SCOTLAND

Daylight Saving Bill

Fiona O'Donnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether his Department has undertaken an impact assessment in respect of the Daylight Saving Bill.

Michael Moore: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is responsible for matters relating to summer time. I have written to a number of organisations representing groups most likely to be affected by any change to summer time, to seek their views. As the Prime Minister has already made clear, there can be no change to existing policy without the agreement of all parts of the United Kingdom, including Scotland. That agreement is not in place.

Ministerial Policy Advisers

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many special advisers he  (a) has appointed since his appointment and  (b) plans to appoint in the next 12 months.

Michael Moore: Since my appointment as Secretary of State for Scotland, I have appointed one special adviser. There is only one special adviser post in the Scotland Office and, therefore, I have no plans to make any further appointments in the next 12 months.

Official Hospitality: Scotland

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what  (a) gifts and  (b) corporate entertainment and hospitality (i) he, (ii) other Ministers and (iii) officials in his Department have received on each date since 11 May 2010.

Michael Moore: The Government publishes a record of all gifts and hospitality received by Ministers worth over £140 in accordance with Government's transparency agenda on:
	www.data.gov.uk
	All gifts and hospitality received by officials valued over £15 are recorded. In the period since 11 May, one official attended a stakeholders' dinner organised by the Lloyds Banking Group on 30 September, and two officials attended the annual Scottish Financial Enterprise (SFE) awards dinner on 28 October 2010, one by invitation of SFE and the other by invitation of Standard Life.

Personnel

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many full-time equivalent staff at each civil service grade are employed in the private office of each Minister in his Department.

Michael Moore: Under the Government's transparency agenda, we are required to publish our Organogram. The Scotland Office's Organogram is now available centrally and from our website via the following link:
	http://www.scotlandoffice.gov.uk/scotlandoffice/14464.html
	This Organogram contains the requested staffing information regarding our combined ministerial private office.

Scottish Parliament

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what plans he has to visit the Scottish Parliament.

Michael Moore: As previously offered, I am happy to attend the Scottish Parliament immediately following the Queen's Speech or on other occasions as agreed.

Serving Scotland Better: Scotland

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent discussions he has had with the First Minister of Scotland on the recommendations of the report Serving Scotland Better: Scotland and the United Kingdom in the 21st Century, published by the Commission on Scottish Devolution.

Michael Moore: I discussed the recommendations of the Commission on Scottish Devolution with the First Minister of Scotland on 16 September 2010. I have also engaged with other Scottish Ministers on the Government's coalition commitment to implement the recommendations of the Commission on Scottish Devolution.

PRIME MINISTER

BBC

John McDonnell: To ask the Prime Minister what recent meetings he has had with the Director-General of the BBC; and whether the matter of pensions was discussed at those meetings.

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Prime Minister what recent meetings  (a) civil servants and  (b) special advisers in his Office have had with the Director-General of the BBC; and whether pensions were discussed at those meetings.

David Cameron: I refer the hon. Member to the list of official meetings by Ministers with external organisations which is published on a quarterly basis, in accordance with the Ministerial Code. Officials and special advisers have meetings with a wide range of organisations and individuals on a range of subjects.

TRANSPORT

Bus Services

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the proportion of bus services that are fitted with automatic vehicle location equipment;
	(2)  how much of the bus service operators grant was allocated to the fitting of automatic vehicle location equipment in 2010-11; and how much will be allocated to these purposes in each of the next three years;
	(3)  whether he has plans to make available composite performance information derived from automatic vehicle location equipment funded from the public purse to  (a) local transport authorities,  (b) traffic commissioners,  (c) Passenger Focus and  (d) bus passengers for the purposes of enabling them to monitor the punctuality of bus services.

Norman Baker: In 2009-10, 55% of public service vehicles in Great Britain were fitted with automatic vehicle location (AVL) equipment. However, no estimate is available of the proportion of bus services that are operated by vehicles fitted with such equipment.
	In April 2010, the Department for Transport introduced an incentive payment to the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) to support the use of AVL systems in the operation of local bus services. There is no fixed budget for this incentive, as the amount paid each year will depend on the number of buses which meet the eligibility criteria. Since April 2010, the Department has paid around £33,000 for this incentive. We expect that this will increase as more operators submit valid claims. The amount of grant paid over the next three years will depend on the take-up of the incentive by operators.
	The Department's approach to improving bus punctuality is based on effective local partnership. Working with local authorities, the Traffic Commissioners, operators and Passenger Focus, the Department has developed a new punctuality regime which recognises the role that local authorities and operators should both play in tackling poor punctuality. The aim is to encourage local authorities and operators to share punctuality data and other relevant information on a voluntary basis to underpin their agreed approach to managing local services. More generally, the Department will work with bus operators to seek to make information on bus punctuality more widely available, but I have no plans to require the publication of composite performance information derived from AVL equipment at present.

Intercity Express Programme

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what alternatives to the Intercity Express Programme are under evaluation by his Department.

Theresa Villiers: The Department for Transport is evaluating alternatives to the Intercity Express Programme as follows:
	refurbishing the existing rolling stock;
	purchasing new electric trains, which would be hauled by diesel locomotives on sections of route that are not electrified; and
	purchasing new electric trains and offering interchange, with passengers changing trains if travelling to non-electrified parts of the network.
	The Department is also evaluating a revised proposal from Agility Trains for bi-mode trains.

Railways: Construction

David Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans the Government has for future capital funding for the proposed high-speed rail line to the city of Sheffield; and if he will make a statement.

Philip Hammond: The settlement for the current spending review period includes the necessary funding to devise and consult on high speed rail lines to both Leeds and Manchester, including options for serving South Yorkshire. Construction will not begin in the current spending review period and capital funding for construction of the lines will be allocated in future spending reviews.

Speed Limits: Cameras

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what evaluation his Department has undertaken of the Asset camera system.

Michael Penning: No evaluation has been undertaken of the Asset camera system by the Department for Transport. Evaluation of all enforcement equipment is subject to Home Office type approval, which may be granted after rigorous testing by the Home Office Scientific Development Branch (HOSDB).

Speed Limits: Cameras

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether his Department has contributed to the development of the Asset camera system.

Michael Penning: The Department for Transport has not contributed to the development of the Asset camera system. The development of this camera will have been undertaken entirely by the manufacturer.

Transport for London: Finance

Gavin Shuker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent discussions he has had with the Mayor of London on the budget for Transport for London.

Theresa Villiers: The Mayor and the Secretary of State had frequent discussions regarding Government funding for Transport for London in the run up to SR10, the outcomes of which are set out in the Secretary of State's letter to the Mayor dated 20 October 2010, published on the Department's website:
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/about/spendingreview

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Bribery Act 2010

John Pugh: To ask the Attorney-General what assessment he has made of the use of the adequate procedures defence under the provisions of the Bribery Act 2010 by local government or NHS bodies.

Dominic Grieve: The Bribery Act 2010 will come into force in April 2011. Joint legal guidance for prosecutors in the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is currently being prepared. This guidance will address how the adequate procedures defence should be approached by prosecutors when it is raised. Prosecutors will also take into account the guidance on adequate procedures which will be issued by the Secretary of State for Justice as required by section 9 of the Act. The defence of adequate procedures applies to 'relevant commercial organisations' as defined under section 7 of the Act; whether any particular body falls within this definition will be considered on the facts in individual cases.

Crown Prosecution Service

Roger Gale: To ask the Attorney-General in how many and what proportion of cases prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service the defendant entered a not guilty plea at each stage of the prosecution and trial in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Dominic Grieve: The information requested is not recorded centrally and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	Central data do not record when a specific plea is entered. Central data will only show whether a guilty plea was entered before the start of a trial or after the start of a trial.
	The Ministry of Justice publish some statistics in relation to non guilty pleas which can be found on their website at:
	www.justice.gov.uk/publications/judicialandcourtstatistics.htm

Crown Prosecution Service: Leases

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Attorney-General in respect of which properties rented for Crown Prosecution Service offices the lease will expire in the next two years.

Edward Garnier: The following offices have lease expiries occurring between November 2010 and November 2012:
	1. Stocklund House, Carlisle-January 2011
	2. St Georges House, Wolverhampton-January 2011
	3. St Leonards Road, Eastbourne-March 2011
	4. Princess House, Swansea-September 2011
	5. Beaumont House, Northampton-October 2011
	6. Black Horse House, Eastleigh-November 2011
	7. Rossmore House, Leamington Spa-February 2012
	8. Sunlight House, Manchester-March 2012
	9. Froomsgate House, Bristol-June 2012
	10. Oxford House, Bournemouth-September 2012.
	The lease at St Peters House, Derby, expired in March 2010. However we are continuing to occupy the site.
	In addition to the offices above the following buildings have lease break options occurring over the next two years:
	1. Blackpool-rolling six month break
	2. Mansfield-March 2011
	3. Birkenhead-April 2011 (exercised)
	4. Harrogate-June 2011 (exercised)
	5. Warrington-August 2011
	6. Liverpool, Royal Liver Building-January 2012
	7. Middlesbrough-March 2012
	8. Brighton-October 2012.
	The Department has agreements to occupy space which expire over the next two years with other Government Departments for the following sites:
	1. Stocklund House, Carlisle-expired March 2009 (subject to Treasury approval will take new lease from landlord)
	2. Riverside Chambers, Taunton-January 2011 (intend to take new Moto will expire 2016)
	3. Lysnoweth, Truro-March 2011
	4. Newgate House, Rochdale-March 2011
	5. New Kings Beam House, Southwark-March 2011
	6. Western Range, Southampton-March 2011
	7. Ralli Quays, Salford-December 2011
	8. Elvet House, Durham-March 2012
	9. Heritage House, Grimsby-March 2012.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Olympic Games 2012

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport which training camps will be used for the London 2012 Olympics by  (a) foreign and  (b) domestic teams.

Hugh Robertson: A list of Olympic and Paralympic teams that have so far agreed to prepare in approved pre-Games training camps, within the UK, is published on the London2012 website at the following link:
	http://www.london2012.com/documents/venue-documents/pre-games-training-camps-agreements.pdf
	I am arranging for copies of the current list (date correct as of 28 October 2010) to be placed in the Libraries of the House.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

British Nationals Abroad: Bereavement

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  how much his Department spent on the provision of assistance to British nationals bereaved by murder and manslaughter overseas in 2009;
	(2)  what provision the Consular Directorate makes for UK nationals who have been bereaved by murder and manslaughter abroad;

Jeremy Browne: The total cost of the provision of consular services in 2009-10 was £132 million. Because of the unique and individual circumstances surrounding the tragic cases of British Nationals bereaved by murder and manslaughter abroad, we are unable to identify the exact amount spent on the provision of assistance in these cases. We have records of 58 British nationals who were murdered or victims of manslaughter in 2009-10.
	Consular Directorate does not have provision of funds to assist UK families who have been bereaved by murder and manslaughter abroad. However, Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials can help transfer money from friends and relatives in the UK to pay any necessary costs incurred in-country.
	I am reviewing our assistance for victims of terrorist incidents overseas and their families and will submit a written ministerial statement shortly.

British Nationals Abroad: Bereavement

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what process the Consular Directorate follows when contacted by a UK national who has been bereaved by murder and manslaughter abroad; and what support and services are offered those so bereaved.

Jeremy Browne: A member of Consular staff will speak with a family representative to explain what support and assistance the Foreign and Commonwealth Office can offer the family. They will provide the family with copies of two Foreign and Commonwealth Office publications: Support for British nationals abroad guide
	http://www.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/pdf/2855621/english
	and the Guide for bereaved families
	http://www.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/pdf/2855621/bereaved-families
	which contain detailed information about the support and assistance available.

Christianity

Angie Bray: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his policy is on making representations on the treatment of Christians in countries where Christians are a minority religion to the governments of those countries.

Jeremy Browne: The Government condemns all instances of violence and discrimination against individuals and groups because of their faith or belief, wherever they occur or whatever the religion of the individual or group concerned.
	The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)'s overseas missions have a responsibility to monitor and raise human rights in their host countries. They routinely raise our concerns with host governments, including freedom of religion or belief when appropriate and have done so in relation to the persecution of Christians.
	The FCO recently produced detailed policy advice for our overseas missions advising how to promote and protect freedom of religion or belief internationally. Drawn up with the guidance of think tanks, academics and non-governmental organisations, the toolkit advises officers on how to promote and protect the right to freedom of religion or belief. The toolkit and more information can be found at:
	http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/global-issues/human-rights/equality/freedom-religion/

European Union

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which proposals under consideration by any institution of the EU would involve a transfer of powers or competences from the UK to the EU; and if he will make a statement.

David Lidington: There are no formal proposals currently under consideration which would involve a transfer of power or competence from the UK to the EU. We have also promised that there will be no treaty change which transfers competence or power from the UK to the EU in the course of this Parliament.

Gaza: Human Rights

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received of human rights abuses in Gaza.

Alistair Burt: Human rights organisations and other non-governmental organisations in Gaza are increasingly concerned about restrictions on their own activities and on the wider curtailing of personal freedoms.
	We share these concerns, including regarding violent harassment of political opponents, violent retribution-including summary executions-against those Hamas deem collaborators with Israel, arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture and a crack down on women's freedom.
	The UK calls on all Palestinian militants to take immediate and concrete steps towards the Quartet principles, unconditionally to release Gilad Shalit, who has been held in captivity for just under four years, and to end its interference with the operations of non-governmental organisations and UN agencies in Gaza.

Iceland: Whales

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with his Icelandic counterpart on whaling; and if he will make a statement.

David Lidington: The UK has not had any recent discussions with the Icelandic Foreign Ministry on whaling. Whaling is incompatible with EU membership. The UK continues to encourage Iceland to align itself as soon as possible with the EU's common position. Whaling will be discussed as part of Iceland's EU accession process under Chapter 27, Environment. We expect chapter negotiations to begin in spring 2011.

Kazakhstan: Human Rights

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs who will lead the UK delegation to the 2010 Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe summit of heads of state of government in Astana; and whether they will raise concerns about the human rights situation in Kazakhstan at that meeting.

David Lidington: My right hon. Friend, the Deputy Prime Minister, will lead the UK delegation to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe summit of heads of state of government in Astana. I will accompany him. Human rights issues are among the key topics we will raise at the summit, and in bilateral meetings with Kazakhstan and others.

Middle East: Armed Conflict

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received on the number of rocket attacks on Israeli citizens by  (a) Islamic Jihad and  (b) Hamas in 2010; and what assessment he has made of the likely implications of such attacks for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Alistair Burt: According to the Israeli Defence Force since 1 January 2010 there have been 122 rockets and 87 mortars launched from Gaza at the state of Israel.
	We have consistently condemned such acts of terrorism. It is clear that those concerned care more about damaging the peace process than about the lives of ordinary Palestinians.
	Negotiations are vital for peace. We hope that leaders will stand firm in the face of such provocations.

Redundancy

Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the number of redundancies arising from the spending reductions proposed in the comprehensive spending review in respect of  (a) his Department and  (b) its non-departmental public bodies;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of staff redundancy in each of the next four years.

Alistair Burt: I refer the hon. Member to my response of 15 November 2010,  Official Report, column 632W.

Venezuela: Human Rights

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he  (a) has taken since his appointment and  (b) plans to take in the next six months at UN level in respect of human rights in Venezuela; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Browne: We have not had discussions with the Secretary General of the United Nations on human rights in Venezuela. However, we do work closely with the UN on the ground. We have helped refugees on the Venezuela-Colombian border in joint projects with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and are in regular contact with them.

DEFENCE

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Claire Perry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether an assessment has been made of the potential effects on the  (a) mental and  (b) physical health of children of the undertaking by a parent of military service in Afghanistan.

Andrew Robathan: holding answer 16 November 2010
	There are currently no plans to conduct a bespoke study into the potential effects on the mental and physical health of children whose parent is deployed on military service in Afghanistan. However, in addition to our Continuous Attitude Surveys, we have strong links with research communities in the UK and allied countries, all of which feed into and help us develop further our welfare policies. The King's Centre for Military Health Research is currently conducting a study to understand better the impact, both the benefits and drawbacks, of military life on the well-being of children of UK Service personnel. In particular the study, which is funded by the US Department of Defense, will examine whether children of military personnel who are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder are disadvantaged as a result.

Armed Forces: Females

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many and what proportion of  (a) Royal Navy and  (b) Royal Air Force pilots flying (i) helicopters and (ii) aeroplanes were female in the latest period for which figures are available.

Andrew Robathan: As at 1 October 2010, the number and proportion of Regular trained female pilots in the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force flying helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft was as follows:
	
		
			   Total number of female pilots  Female proportion of total number of pilots (percentage) 
			  Royal Navy   
			 Helicopters 5 (1)- 
			 Fixed Wing * (1)- 
			
			  Royal Air Force   
			 Helicopters 25 (1)- 
			 Fixed Wing 35 (1)- 
			 (1) Less than 5%. 1. Due to ongoing validation of data from the Joint Personnel Administration system, armed forces' data are provisional. 2. Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 5 and '*'denotes a number less than 5. 3. Percentage based on small numbers present a disclosure risk and are therefore presented as 'less than 5%'.

Armed Forces: Manpower

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many personnel he expects to be serving in each branch of the armed forces in each of the next five years.

Nick Harvey: The UK armed forces will be restructured to meet current and emerging threats. The Service Chiefs will set out over the coming months exactly how this restructuring will impact upon current manning levels.
	As stated in the Strategic Defence and Security Review, we plan to make total reductions of around 17,000 service personnel by 2015. The Royal Navy will decrease by around 5,000 personnel to a total of around 30,000. The Army will decrease by around 7,000 personnel to a total of around 95,000. The RAF will decrease by around 5,000 personnel to a total of around 33,000.

Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what  (a) powers of authority and  (b) responsibilities the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator has to undertake assessment and approval of any component of the Report of Assessment submitted by his Department when acting as operator as required by the Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations 2001.

Andrew Robathan: The Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator (DNSR) is granted authority and responsibility from the Secretary of State for Defence (via the Defence Nuclear Environment and Safety Board) for the regulation of nuclear and radiological safety, and environmental protection within the defence nuclear programmes.
	As part of this, DNSR assesses and approves the Reports of Assessment produced by the Ministry of Defence before they are submitted to the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate in line with the Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations (REPPIR) 2001.

Departmental Lobbying

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department's agencies and non-departmental public bodies spent from the public purse on influencing public policy through  (a) employing external (i) public affairs companies, (ii) strategic consultancies and (iii) corporate communications firms,  (b) external marketing and  (c) other activities in each of the last 10 years.

Andrew Robathan: The Ministry of Defence (MOD)'s on-Vote agencies, trading funds and non-departmental bodies have not sought to influence public policy through the engagement of external consultancy or other activities in the last 10 years. Any use of strategic consultancy tends to be focused on how the MOD's executive agencies and other bodies pursue their own purposes and objectives.
	We employ external help only where we cannot do the work ourselves or can demonstrate value for money. We are making significant reductions in this activity this financial year as a result of the tighter controls introduced by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 24 May 2010.

Departmental Lobbying

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which of his Department's non-departmental public bodies have undertaken activities to influence public policy for which they engaged  (a) public affairs and  (b) public relations consultants in each year since 1997; and at what monetary cost in each such year.

Andrew Robathan: The Ministry of Defence's non-departmental bodies have not sought to influence public policy through the engagement of external consultancy since 1997. We employ external help only where we cannot do the work ourselves or can demonstrate value for money.

Departmental Official Hospitality

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 28 October 2010,  Official Report, column 449W, on departmental official hospitality, if he will provide disaggregated information on the five most expensive hospitality events hosted by his Department in each of the last three financial years; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Robathan: Information on official entertainment is not held centrally in the format requested that allows individual events to be ranked by cost.
	Expenditure on official entertainment is authorised and managed locally where it is aggregated and recorded against a single reporting code for official entertainment on our accounting systems. Disaggregated information at individual event level is therefore held locally by budget managers at the Ministry of Defence's establishments and units in the UK and overseas.
	We have introduced fresh constraints on the approval of official entertainment events to drive down costs, the presumption being that official entertainment will be offered only exceptionally.

MOD Abbey Wood: Redundancy

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he has had on job losses amongst his Department's civilian staff at Abbey Wood; and what recent estimate he has made of the number of compulsory redundancies which will occur.

Andrew Robathan: The Strategic Defence and Security Review stated that the Ministry of Defence (MOD) civilian workforce would decrease by 25,000 as the requirement for civilian support decreases in line with the development of new force structures, restructuring of defence capabilities, rationalisation of the defence estate and realisation of other front-line savings. But we have taken no decisions on where those changes will be made. Detailed proposals to deliver the changes will be made in consultation with the Department's trade unions as quickly as possible as further work is taken forward. It follows that we cannot yet say what the impact will be upon Abbey Wood or what level of redundancies might be needed, but the MOD is committed to achieving the reductions by voluntary means as far as possible.

Nuclear Submarines: Radiation

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  which submarine operational berths have been assessed by the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator as being in full compliance with the requirements of the Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations 2001;
	(2)  whether his Department has conducted COSYMA modelling of the consequences of a release of radioactivity from a nuclear submarine berthed in Southampton; and what estimate his Department has made of the costs to the public purse of the emergency management and remedial actions which would be required in the event of an accident resulting in the release of radioactivity from a nuclear-powered submarine berthed at the Southampton operational berth;
	(3)  what mechanisms are in place to ensure that Royal Navy Fleet Command recognises the authority of the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator to  (a) regulate submarine operations and  (b) ensure compliance with its recommendations;
	(4)  by what date he expects each submarine operational berth assessed by the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator as not in full compliance with the requirements of the Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations 2001 to be brought into full compliance with these regulations;
	(5)  whether the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) was consulted on the recent emergency berthing of HMS Astute at the Loch Ewe operational berth; and under what conditions the NII permitted the berth to be used as an unlicensed emergency berth.

Andrew Robathan: The Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator does not assess operational berths against the requirements of Radiation Emergency Preparedness and Public Information Regulations (REPPIR) 2001. This is the responsibility of the statutory regulator, which is the Health and Safety Executive-Nuclear Installation Inspectorate. All UK Operational Berths in use are fully compliant with REPPIR 2001. Any new berth would be subject to the full approval process as required by statutory regulations. Following her grounding there was no requirement for HMS ASTUTE to use the operational berth in Loch Ewe; she proceeded to Faslane under her own power.
	The arrangements for the regulation of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion programme, together with the arrangements by which the Defence Nuclear Regulator ensures compliance with the regulatory requirements, are detailed in internal guidance Regulation of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion programme last updated in September 2010.
	Code System from Maria (CSYMA) was used to estimate atmospheric release doses arising from the accident sequences identified in the 2008 Nuclear Plant Hazard Identification and Risk Evaluation and is used to underpin the production of Berth Safety Statement and Emergency Arrangements, but the analysis is not site specific.
	There have been no specific costings for emergency management and remedial actions by the Ministry of Defence in the highly unlikely event of an accident resulting in the release of radioactivity from a nuclear-powered submarine berthed at Southampton. Cost benefit analysis methodologies are based on the Health and Safety Executive guidelines but are not site specific.

Strategic Defence and Security Review

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he has had with  (a) the Secretary of State for Transport,  (b) the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills,  (c) trade unions and  (d) industry bodies on the likely effects of the outcomes of the Strategic Defence and Security Review on civil (i) manufacturing and (ii) transportation.

Liam Fox: holding answer 12 November 2010
	During the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) I had discussions with other Government Ministers, trade unions, and industry representatives on the industrial implications of the SDSR.
	We now plan to enter into an extensive programme of negotiations in the coming months as part of the SDSR implementation process. This will run in parallel with us developing Green and White Papers on our Defence and Security Industrial and Technology Policy.
	I have had no specific discussions with these parties on civil transportation. We will be conducting detailed investment appraisals as the SDSR is implemented, including on the civil sector and societal issues.

Strategic Defence and Security Review

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent assessment he has made of the likely effects of the outcomes of the Strategic Defence and Security Review on the defence estate in Northern Ireland.

Andrew Robathan: No decision has yet been made on changes to the Defence estate (including that in Northern Ireland) or to the way it is managed.
	The Ministry of Defence keeps its estate under continual review to ensure that it is of the right size and quality to meet operational needs. However, estate rationalisation arising from the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) has highlighted the need for a follow-on programme of work: 'SDSR-Estate Rationalisation and Withdrawing Troops from Germany' that could lead to a further reduction in the size of the estate and to lower running costs.

Unmanned Air Vehicles

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much funding his Department plans to allocate to the development of remotely-piloted aircraft capability in the period from 2010 to 2015.

Andrew Robathan: We plan to spend around £400 million on the development of remotely-piloted air systems capability in the period from 2010 to 2015.

Warships

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what representations the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator made to the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate on the standard of the berth safety statement for the submarine operational berth at Southampton; and if he will place in the Library a copy of the correspondence between the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator and the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate on that matter.

Andrew Robathan: The Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator (DNSR) submitted a technical assessment of the Ministry of Defence's 2008 Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations (REPPIR) 2001 submissions to the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate on 6 October 2008.
	This technical assessment included all the submissions for MOD authorised sites and Operational Berths, including Southampton, and concluded that the submissions met the requirements of REPPIR 2001.
	A copy of the technical assessment will be placed in the Library of the House following a review to identify whether any information needs to be withheld.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Floods: York

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when the Environment Agency plans further to consult the public on its plans for the Water End Flood Alleviation scheme in York.

Richard Benyon: The Environment Agency issued a press release on 16 November confirming a public drop-in session to discuss the Water End Flood Alleviation Scheme. It will be held at St Barnabas School, York, on 1 December, between 3 pm and 7 pm. An invitation has also been sent to the hon. Member for York Central today. The Environment Agency will be delivering invitations to the local community on 19 November.

Incinerators: Health Hazards

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 25 October 2010,  Official Report, columns 128-29W, on waste disposal: health hazards, for what reasons it was decided that the Environment Agency should undertake a review of the health effects of combustion processes, including incineration, in light of the Health Protection Agency advice that studies of public health around modern, well-managed municipal waste incinerators are not recommended.

Richard Benyon: The Environment Agency regulates incinerators and other large combustion processes. The review referred to will provide additional evidence to underpin the agency's role in regulating industrial emissions. It will consider all large combustion processes and any potential effects on health. Emissions from waste incineration are included in the review, although they make up only a small proportion of the total emissions from combustion processes. By contrast, the Health Protection Agency 2009 report addresses emissions from incineration only.

Natural England: Pay

Martin Vickers: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many permanent staff employed by Natural England received an annual salary of more than £25,428 in the latest period for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Benyon: Natural England currently has 1,784 permanent staff (out of a total headcount of 2,640 staff) who are paid an annual equivalent salary of £25,428 or more.

Waste Management

Gary Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment she has made of the merits of alternatives to energy from waste plants as part of her Department's waste disposal strategy.

Richard Benyon: The Government's approach to waste management, including energy from waste (EfW), is underpinned by the waste hierarchy, which ranks waste management methods in order of environmental preference. This means that for waste which cannot be re-used or recycled, recovery of energy is a preferable route, and that EfW is almost always preferable to landfill (unless analysis of the overall environmental impact, for specific types of waste, shows otherwise). The waste hierarchy will shortly become law through the revised Waste Framework Directive, which seeks to promote waste prevention, increase recycling, and ensure better use of resources, to protect human health and the environment. This will help to underpin the Government's vision of a zero waste economy.
	A full review of waste policy is currently being carried out, due to report in spring 2011. The role of recovering energy from waste will be considered as part of the review.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

UN Women's Agency

Fiona O'Donnell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department plans to take in support of the developmental objectives of the UN women's agency in the next 12 months.

Andrew Mitchell: I have held recent discussions on this point with the Head of UN Women, Michelle Bachelet, and the UN Secretary-General. We are putting girls and women at the heart of British development policy. We will announce funding for UN Women when we have completed the Multilateral Aid Review.

Sri Lanka

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what his Department's policy is on the provision of aid to Sri Lanka; and if he will make a statement.

Alan Duncan: The Department for International Development's (DFID's) direct aid programme closed in 2006. In 2008, responding to needs arising from the conflict, DFID committed £13.5 million emergency humanitarian funding. This support ends in March 2011. On Wednesday my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for International Development, announced new support for landmine clearance. Over the next three years, Sri Lanka will be among those receiving assistance under this programme, helping those still displaced return home.

Refugees: Thai-Burma Border

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether his Department is providing aid to refugees in encampments on the Thai-Burma border.

Alan Duncan: In 2010-11 the UK Government are providing £1.6 million to non-governmental organisations for food, housing and improved access to legal assistance for Burmese refugees in Thailand.

Africa: Overseas Aid

Richard Harrington: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps he has taken to increase the level of technical assistance to developing countries in Africa; and whether he has assessed the merits of working together with Israel to provide technical assistance to such countries on climate farming.

Stephen O'Brien: We are currently reviewing all our bilateral and multilateral programmes to ensure we focus our resources where we can get most impact. This includes a review of where aid is spent and the instruments used to deliver it. We will ensure that only the best development interventions receive support and will maximise value for money in DFID's development spend. Requirements for technical assistance are led by our country offices and co-ordinated with partner countries. Technical assistance can make a major contribution to poverty reduction. Final decisions will be made in good time to plan programmes for the next financial year.
	The UK currently has no direct co-operation with Israel on international development. Israel has recently become a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and we hope Israel will consider joining the OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC).

Caribbean: Infrastructure

Daniel Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what plans his Department has to allocate funding to infrastructure programmes in respect in the Caribbean.

Alan Duncan: The current Department for International Development (DFID) programme in the Caribbean does not directly support infrastructure delivery. Through the core funding that DFID provides to institutions such as the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, EU and others, the UK supports a wide variety of infrastructure investments across the region including ports, road building and utility modernisation.
	The UK Government are currently reviewing DFID's aid programme, including aid delivered to the Caribbean through both bilateral and multilateral channels, to ensure UK aid is effective and determine how we can achieve better value for money for the taxpayer and accelerate progress towards the millennium development goals (MDGs). Future funding allocations will be decided once these reviews have been completed.

International Assistance

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much funding his Department has allocated in respect of achieving each millennium development goal in the latest period for which figures are available.

Alan Duncan: It is not possible to provide figures for funding provided by the Department for International Development (DFID) in respect of achieving each millennium development goal (MDGs). Accelerating progress towards the achievement of the MDGs is a key priority for DFID and a large proportion of UK aid is spent on programmes designed to deliver a range of objectives across the MDGs. It is therefore not possible to disaggregate expenditure under each goal.
	DFID does track expenditure on individual sectors and a full detailed breakdown for 2009-10 was published in 'Statistics on International Development'. The DFID publication 'DFID in 2009/10' also sets out how DFID is contributing to delivering the MDGs in 22 priority developing countries. Both these documents are available on the DFID website and in the Library of the House.

International Assistance

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much in cash terms and what proportion of his Department's budget consists of payments to  (a) the EU and  (b) multilateral agencies.

Alan Duncan: In 2009-10, the Department for International Development's (DFID) total aid expenditure was £6,629 million, of which total core funding to multilateral agencies was £2,436 million (39%). Of this amount, £1,186 million (18%) was provided to the European Commission (EC); including £397 million through the European Development Fund (EDF) and £789 million through the EC Development Budget.
	More details on DFID's aid expenditure can be found in the annual publication "Statistics on International Development", which is available on the DFID website and in the Library of the House.

Overseas Aid

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development which 10 countries received the highest amount of bilateral aid from his Department  (a) on the latest date for which figures are available and  (b) in 2005.

Alan Duncan: Details of the Department for International Development's (DFID) bilateral aid expenditure are published in "Statistics on International Development", which is available on the DFID website and in the Library of the House. The top 10 recipients of DFID bilateral expenditure in 2005-06 and 2009-10 are reproduced in the following table.
	
		
			   2005-06  2009-10 
			  Rank  Country  £ million  Country  £ million 
			 1 India 253 India 295 
			 2 Bangladesh 123 Ethiopia 214 
			 3 Sudan 117 Bangladesh 149 
			 4 Tanzania 112 Sudan 146 
			 5 Afghanistan 98 Tanzania 144 
			 6 Pakistan 97 Pakistan 140 
			 7 Ghana 95 Afghanistan 133 
			 8 Iraq 87 Nigeria 114 
			 9 Nigeria 78 Congo (Dem Rep) 109 
			 10 Uganda 72 Ghana 90

Overseas Aid

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what proportion of his Department's budget is spent on programmes in developing countries.

Alan Duncan: In 2009-10, the Department for International Development (DFID) provided £6,629 million in aid with the aim of reducing poverty in developing countries. Of this total, £3,952 million (60%) was provided directly to support poverty reduction in developing countries. A further £2,436 million (37%) was provided as core funding to multilateral agencies to fund further programmes in developing countries. The remaining £241 million (3%) was spent on administration costs (including £70 million on Programme Funded Admin) and programmes in other countries (for example countries not on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD's) Development Assistance Committee's (DAC's) list of aid recipients).
	Further details can be found in the annual publication "Statistics on International Development", which is available on the DFID website and in the Library of the House.

Palestinians: Overseas Aid

Jo Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps he is taking to prevent UK aid intended for Palestinians in Gaza from reaching Hamas.

Alan Duncan: UK aid to Gaza is primarily delivered through the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). UNRWA has a range of safeguards to ensure that its operations benefit ordinary Gazans rather than Hamas, and that its staff do not engage in political or militant activity. Other UK funding for Gaza since 2007 has supported projects implemented by established and reputable organisations, such as UN agencies, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and international non-governmental organisations like Oxfam, Save the Children and Islamic Relief. We work closely with all partners on project design to ensure that UK funding complies with European Union and UK legislation on terrorist financing. The monitoring of UK-funded projects which we undertake together with implementing partners has revealed no evidence of any financial benefit to Hamas.

UNRWA: Finance

Jo Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will increase the level of his Department's assistance to UNRWA for the purposes of meeting the shortfall in its funding requirement.

Alan Duncan: The UK has a five year (2007-11) core funding commitment to UNRWA worth up to £110 million. In June this year we provided. £19 million and in October we provided an additional £8 million; £3 million for meeting agreed performance targets, and a further £5 million in response to UNRWA's funding shortfall to ensure it can continue to deliver essential services, such as healthcare and education. This brings our total assistance to UNRWA for 2010 to £27 million. This will, among other things, help provide healthcare to 263,000 women and 242,000 children, education for 45,000 children, vocational training for 1,000 vulnerable and disabled people, and food and cash aid for 29,000 extremely poor people.
	I recently met UNRWA's Commissioner General, Filippo Grandi, to discuss UNRWA's budget funding shortfall. The UK fully supports UNRWA's fundraising efforts and, in addition to the extra funding we have provided, we are calling on other donors to honour their funding commitments.

EDUCATION

Building Schools for the Future Programme

Angela Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what funding  (a) Sheffield city council and  (b) Barnsley borough council will receive under the Building Schools for the Future programme in each of the next five years.

Nick Gibb: The projected grant payments under the Building Schools for the Future programme are set out in the following tables. The actual phasing of payments may change depending upon the completion of project milestones.
	
		
			  Design and build projects 
			  £ million 
			  Capital grant  2011-12  2012-13  2013-14  2014-15  2015-16  Total 
			 Sheffield 64 28 3 0 0 95 
			 Barnsley 0 0 0 0 0 0 
		
	
	
		
			  Private finance initiative projects 
			  £ million 
			  Revenue grant  2011-12  2012-13  2013-14  2014-15  2015-16  Total 
			 Sheffield 8 8 10 10 10 46 
			 Barnsley 13 21 27 27 27 115

Departmental Consultants

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much was spent on external consultants and advisers by  (a) his Department and  (b) each (i) non-departmental public body and (ii) executive agency for which he is responsible in each year since 2005.

Tim Loughton: The Department's spend on consultancy for each financial year is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Financial year  Expenditure (£ million) 
			 2005-06 21.5 
			 2006-07 45.1 
			 2007-08 61.4 
			 2008-09 59.2 
			 2009-10 57.4 
		
	
	The Department does not hold the requested information for its NDPBs, as they are independent and are responsible for their own data.

Education Maintenance Allowance

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will change the system of assessing eligibility for education maintenance allowance to take into account the number of young people in a household who are in education.

Nick Gibb: The education maintenance allowance scheme will close at the end of the 2010/11 academic year and no new applications will be processed from 1 January 2011. It will be replaced by an enhanced Discretionary Learner Support Fund. Decisions about which young people should receive financial support from the Discretionary Learner Support Fund will be made by schools, colleges and training organisations, who are in a better position than Government to determine the needs of individual students. They will target support to those young people who most need it to continue in learning.

Education Maintenance Allowance

David Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much of the budget for education maintenance allowance for 2010-11 will be available in each financial year to 2014-15; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 28 October 2010
	The education maintenance allowance scheme will close at the end of the 2010/11 academic year. The most disadvantaged young people will instead be supported by the enhanced discretionary learner support fund, which will enable closer targeting of resource to individual students in need. £26 million has been invested in 2010-11 in a discretionary learner support fund. With the ending of the EMA, this fund will be increased. We anticipate that in 2014-15 this enhanced fund will be three times greater than current funds. Further details will be announced in due course.

Education Maintenance Allowance: Staffordshire

Christopher Pincher: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many and what proportion of students in  (a) Tamworth,  (b) Staffordshire and  (c) England received an education maintenance allowance bonus after attaining A-level results lower than three C grades in 2009-10.

Nick Gibb: The Department for Education and the Young People's Learning Agency do not collect data about the attainment of young people in receipt of EMA.

Excellence in Cities

Helen Grant: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when his Department's Excellence in Cities funding programme ended; and whether any of the funding associated with that programme is still paid to schools.

Nick Gibb: The Excellence in Cities programme ended in March 2006. Since April 2006, the funding for the programme has been included in the school development grant, which can be spent by schools on any purpose to raise standards. The Government announced in the spending review that school development grant will be rolled into the main school budget in 2011-12. It will be for local authorities, in consultation with their schools forum, to decide whether to take account of the previous levels of school development grant when making allocations to schools.

Pupils: Disadvantaged

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether the proposed pupil premium will apply to funding for 16 to 19-year-olds.

Nick Gibb: The pupil premium does not apply to 16 to 19-year-olds. The 16-18 funding formula already has an element that ensures students from disadvantaged backgrounds receive a funding premium. This is the funding linked to the disadvantage uplift within the formula and that for Additional Learning Support. Details of the 16-18 funding formula can be found at:
	http://readingroom.ypla.gov.uk/ypla/funding_rates_and_formula_v2.2.pdf

Schools: Wolverhampton

Paul Uppal: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has for the refurbishment of  (a) primary and  (b) secondary schools in Wolverhampton South West constituency.

Nick Gibb: Future capital support for primary and secondary schools in England will be informed by the review of DfE Capital led by Sebastian James, which is due to report by the end of the calendar year. We are aiming to confirm allocations for 2011/12 in early December underpinned by principles emerging from the review.

Special Educational Needs

Robert Buckland: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether his Department's review of special educational needs plans to address the recommendations of the Lamb Inquiry review of social educational needs and disability information in respect of piloting arm's length educational psychology services; and if he will make a statement.

Sarah Teather: On 6 July I announced that a Special Educational Needs and Disability Green Paper would be published which would take a wide look at a range of issues for children with SEN and disabilities. This will include ways of making the system more transparent, giving parents more choice and involvement in the decision-making process and producing an assessment system which is more supportive and is seen to be fairer in its allocation of resources. The provision of educational psychology services will be considered within the context of these ambitions.
	The overall finding of the Lamb Inquiry was that by addressing support needs early, ensuring parents were listened to and that there was a real focus on outcomes, parental confidence increased. The Green Paper will be informed by the Inquiry's findings, including those around the operation of different educational psychology service models, such as those at arm's length of the local authority. We will, for example, be looking with interest at the outcomes of local authority innovative SEN projects which are currently under way. These projects include a focus on the provision of educational psychology services at arm's length and ways of providing direct access to educational psychology services for parents.

Specialist Schools

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what his policy is on the creation of new specialist schools; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced on 20 October that the Government are removing the prescription that has built up around the specialist schools programme and giving school leaders greater freedom to make use of the opportunities offered by specialism and the associated funding. All schools will be free to decide how to develop specialisms in the light of the total resources available to them. Schools are no longer required to seek formal designation as specialist.

Sure Start Programme

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  when he plans to announce his decision on the Sure Start capital grant application for St John's Church Hall, Colchester;
	(2)  when he plans to announce his decision on the Sure Start capital grant application by Kendall Primary School, Colchester.

Sarah Teather: holding answer 9 November 2010
	 Decisions on Sure Start grant capital funding applications from any individual setting are a matter for the local authority, not the Secretary of State for Education. Ministers are still considering information and evidence from Essex county council concerning its 2010-11 capital programme, as part of the Department's review of each local authority (LA)'s funding to identify areas where savings may need to be found. When a decision has been made, officials will write to the authority informing it of its revised allocation for the year. Once notification of that allocation has been received, it will be for Essex to determine how to distribute the funding in the light of local needs and priorities.

Teachers Pensions

Julie Hilling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent representations he has received on the effect on teacher  (a) retention and  (b) recruitment of proposals to (i) increase contributions to the Teacher's Pension Scheme and (ii) to freeze teacher salaries.

Nick Gibb: The Department has consulted teacher and head teacher unions, employers and governor representatives on changes to the School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Document (the Document) which have taken effect from 1 September 2010. The main changes to the Document result from recent independent School Teachers' Review Body recommendations, which include a 2.3% pay award as the final element of a three-year pay deal for teachers.
	In responding to the consultation on the Document, one of the consultees expressed concern about the two-year public sector pay freeze which for teachers who earn the full-time equivalent of more than £21,000, will take effect from 1 September 2011. The Secretary of State has also received correspondence from a Member of Parliament about whether a pay freeze would discourage individuals from entering or remaining in the teaching profession.
	Although there will be a two-year pay freeze for teachers from September 2011, the Document does provide maintained schools in England and Wales with the option of making additional payments or providing other financial assistance, support or benefits to retain an existing teacher's services or as an incentive to recruit a new teacher. The Government are also considering how they might reform the existing pay and conditions rules to give schools greater freedoms to pay good teachers more.
	The Department has not received recent representations on the effect on recruitment and retention from any future increase in the contribution rate for the teachers' pension scheme (TPS).

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Affordable Housing

Julie Hilling: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government for what reasons he decided to reduce funding allocated through regional housing grants by £370 million; what assessment he has made of the likely combined effect on the provision of social housing of the implementation of that decision and the Government's proposals to reduce housing benefit; what impact assessments he has undertaken of that decision; and whether he has made an assessment of the likely effect of the implementation of that decision on the number of jobs in  (a) Bolton at Home and  (b) other arms-length management organisations.

Andrew Stunell: The Government have made clear that our most urgent priority is to tackle the UK's record deficit in order to restore confidence in our economy and support the recovery. In order to tackle the budget deficit all Government Departments have been required to work within a very tight fiscal settlement. Failure to tackle the deficit would have pushed up mortgage rates and made housing less affordable.
	The decision to discontinue funding the Private Sector Renewal programme, which received funding of £308 million in 2010-11, reduced by the previous administration from £376 million, is a direct result of these constraints.
	Where Private Sector Renewal activities are a local priority, local authorities may chose to direct other funding to provide support packages for vulnerable private sector households. Neither Bolton at Home nor other ALMO would have been direct beneficiaries of funding from this programme.
	DCLG has undertaken an equality impact assessment into the end of funding for the Private Sector Renewal programme, in line with our equalities duties, and will be publishing the assessment shortly.
	In the spending review we announced almost £4.5 billion investment in new affordable housing to deliver up to 150,000 affordable homes and a further £2 billion investment in Decent Homes. We are also giving housing associations much more flexibility on rents and use of assets. Our aspiration is to deliver even more homes through our investment and reforms. We will publish details of how these proposals will work shortly.

Homelessness: Temporary Accommodation

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the number of bed and breakfast places needed for homeless people in each London borough in each of the next five years.

Grant Shapps: No estimates are made by the Department for Communities and Local Government of future demand for bed and breakfast accommodation for homeless people.
	Under homelessness legislation that applies to England, bed and breakfast cannot be used by a local housing authority to discharge a duty to secure accommodation for applicants who are pregnant, or whose household includes a pregnant woman or a dependant child, unless no other accommodation is available and then for no more than six weeks in aggregate.
	This Government are committed to tackling and preventing homelessness. I have established a new cross-Government working group on homelessness bringing together Ministers from eight Government Departments to address the complex causes of homelessness and rough sleeping.
	An additional £130 million will be made available, via the Department for Work and Pensions, to local authorities to administer discretionary housing payments to provide extra support for households where needed. I have also provided a further £10 million in this financial year to London local authorities to help support those families most at risk of homelessness. On 20 October I announced that during the course of the spending review over £400 million of homelessness grant will be made available to local authorities and the voluntary and community sector to support the most vulnerable and tackle homelessness.

Local Government: Voluntary Organisations

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether his Department plans to issue guidance to local authorities on the effects of reduced funding levels on the voluntary sector; and if he will make a statement.

Bob Neill: holding answer 12 November 2010
	 We expect local authorities, as they look to find savings to their budgets, to make reductions to their running costs by introducing new ways of working, including better procurement and more joint working, and by benefiting from the reduction in bureaucratic burdens that are imposed on them from central Government.
	As I outlined in my Department's press release of 14 October 2010, councils should not seek to avoid making the savings described above by targeting instead the voluntary sector. We expect councils to devolve and empower people and maintain strong links with voluntary and community groups.
	In a tight economic climate, there is a greater need for the diversity and innovation voluntary and community groups can offer. Reinforcing monopolies of local services by retrenching into the town hall is not the way forward. Opening up more of councils' budgets to voluntary organisations can improve effectiveness, increase resilience and save costs.
	Measures to betaken in the forthcoming Localism Bill will establish new rights for voluntary and community groups to deliver local services.

National Housing and Planning Advice Unit

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what impact assessment he has undertaken of the closure of the National Housing and Planning Advice Unit;
	(2)  what his most recent assessment is of the effectiveness of the National Housing and Planning Advice Unit in carrying out its functions.

Grant Shapps: A decision was taken to close the National Housing and Planning Advice Unit with immediate effect on 28 June because this helped to achieve cost savings because it consolidated housing and planning analysis within the Department, eliminating the risk of duplication in research and advice.
	In the interests of transparency, and in order to maximise value from the units research programme, all research was transferred to my Department at no extra cost and is published on the Department's website.

National Tenant Voice

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what impact assessment he has undertaken of the closure of National Tenant Voice;
	(2)  what his most recent assessment is of the effectiveness of National Tenant Voice in carrying out its functions.

Grant Shapps: We did not proceed with the National Tenant Voice as creating yet another central Government quango was not the right way forward for delivering effective tenant empowerment at the local level, and with costs of over £1 million did not represent value for money. Instead, we are giving tenants more power and voice locally through tenant panels, and have provided almost £50,000 for the national tenant organisations to develop proposals for an independent successor body to represent the interests of social tenants.

Regional Planning and Development

Harriett Baldwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance he has issued to local authorities on the timetable for the ending of regional spatial strategies.

Greg Clark: The Localism Bill will abolish regional strategies, it will be introduced shortly and we hope for Royal Assent as soon as the parliamentary timetable allows. I also refer my hon. Friend to the written ministerial statement of 10 November 2010,  Official Report, columns 15-16WS, and I am placing in the Library a copy of the associated letter from the Government's Chief Planner to local authorities.

Social Rented Housing: Construction

Julie Hilling: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether housing associations will be given flexibility to build new homes for traditional social housing rents in circumstances where they judge application of rents at 80 per cent. of market rate to be inappropriate.

Grant Shapps: We will publish more detail on the implementation of new 'affordable rent' tenure shortly.

Wind Power: Planning Permission

Andrea Leadsom: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  if he will bring forward proposals to require the Planning Inspectorate to refuse appeals from developers of wind farms when there is unanimous community opposition to the proposals;
	(2)  if he will bring forward proposals to provide for planning for wind farms as part of the Localism Bill;
	(3)  if he will ensure that the views of local residents are taken into account when plans for the development of wind farms are proposed;
	(4)  if he will bring forward proposals to require the developer of any wind farm to ensure the developed area is returned to its original state once the development has finished.

Bob Neill: In reaching a decision on a planning appeal, a planning inspector will consider whether a proposed development is acceptable in terms of the local council's development plan and other considerations which can include national planning policy and relevant planning issues raised by local communities. The Planning Inspectorate has an important role to play as the arbiter of potential conflicts between the interests of individuals, or local communities, and the needs of the nation. It would therefore be inappropriate to direct the Planning Inspectorate to refuse a planning appeal solely because of community opposition because there may still be strong national or local policy support for a proposal.
	We are not proposing to include any specific provisions in the Localism Bill on planning for wind farms. We will publish and present to Parliament a simple and consolidated national planning policy framework covering all forms of development and setting out national economic, environmental and social priorities. We will make an announcement on how we propose to take forward the national planning policy framework and the implications for specific areas of planning policy.
	There are requirements on local planning authorities to consult local communities and take their views into account when preparing development plan documents and planning applications must be publicised to allow representations to be made on the planning issues they raise. We will give local people and communities far more ability to determine the shape of the places in which they live by radically reforming the planning system.
	Local planning authorities are able to attach conditions to a planning consent to require the restoration of a site as part of the decommissioning of a wind farm when it ceases to be operational.

WOMEN AND EQUALITIES

Equality Act 2010

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities pursuant to the answer of 28 October 2010,  Official Report, column 443W, on the Equality Act 2010, when she plans to implement the provisions of that section of the Act.

Lynne Featherstone: My right hon. Friend, the Minister for Women and Equalities has announced that the Government plan to scrap the socio-economic duty.

Women in Power Summit

Priti Patel: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities how much the Government Equalities Office spent on co-hosting the EU Women in Power summit in February 2010; and how many civil servants attended the event.

Lynne Featherstone: The Government Equalities Office (GEO) co-funded the EU Women in Power Summit, which the UK co-hosted with Spain during Spain's presidency of the EU on 3 February 2010. The total cost of the UK contribution was £48,485.
	The five former UK Ministers who attended the event were each accompanied by Private Secretaries and were supported by one senior civil servant from the Government Equalities Office. The former Minister for Women and Equalities was also accompanied by one special adviser.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Animal Welfare

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will take steps to ensure standards of animal welfare are maintained following implementation of the European Directive on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes.

Lynne Featherstone: I am satisfied that European Directive 2010/63/EU provides a sound and practical framework for the regulation of animal experimentation and testing in Europe and will allow the United Kingdom to maintain its traditionally high standards of welfare and animal protection. At the same time it avoids unnecessary bureaucracy and may offer opportunities to reduce the current regulatory burden in some areas without harming animal welfare.

Arrest Warrants

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many European arrest warrants were issued for UK citizens in  (a) 2004,  (b) 2005,  (c) 2006,  (d) 2007,  (e) 2008,  (f) 2009 and  (g) 2010 to the latest date for which information is available.

Nick Herbert: The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service for Scotland are the designated UK authorities responsible for processing European Arrest Warrants (EAWs). Information is held on Part 1 cases (persons wanted from the UK by another member state) and Part 3 cases (persons wanted by the UK from another member state). It is not possible to provide information relating to EAW requests for UK Citizens which are made between two other EU member states.
	Between 1 October 2008 and 31 March 2010, SOCA received 191 EAW Part 1 requests for UK Citizens. These are broken down as follows:
	
		
			   Number 
			 1 October 2008 to 31 December 2008 29 
			 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2009 119 
			 1 January 2010 to 31 March 2010 43 
		
	
	These figures do not include part 1 requests transmitted directly to Scotland.
	Data on the requests made by EU member states in respect of UK citizens prior to 1 October 2008 are currently unavailable and could be recovered only by a manual examination of all SOCA case records. This would incur a disproportionate cost.
	For information on the number of UK nationals surrendered to other member states I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given on 25 October 2010,  Official Report, columns 64-66W, to my hon. Friend the Member for Witham (Priti Patel).
	Figures for UK Part 3 requests made in respect of UK citizens since 2006 are shown in the following table. Data for 2004 and 2005 is not readily available and could not be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.
	
		
			   Total 
			 2006 31 
			 2007 43 
			 2008 111 
			 2009 125 
			 2010 (to 31 March) 38

Arrests

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people who were arrested were subsequently released without charge in each of the last three years.

Nick Herbert: Data on arrests collected by the Home Office do not include information on the subsequent outcomes of arrests.

Community Policing: Finance

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what her most recent assessment is of the adequacy of the level of funding for community policing in London.

Nick Herbert: The allocation of police resources is a matter for the relevant chief constable/commissioner and police authority.
	The spending review set out the overall settlement for policing. There will be an announcement to Parliament in early December setting out the details of allocations of grant to all forces, including any specific grant.

Counter-terrorism

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what timescale she has set for the publication of the findings of the rapid review of counter-terrorism powers.

Nick Herbert: We will announce the outcome of the review to Parliament when it is completed later in the year.

Departmental Lobbying

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much her Department's agencies and non-departmental public bodies spent from the public purse on influencing public policy through  (a) employing external (i) public affairs companies, (ii) strategic consultancies and (iii) corporate communications firms,  (b) external marketing and  (c) other activities in each of the last 10 years.

Nick Herbert: The Home Office agencies and non-departmental public bodies have not spent any money on influencing public policy over the last 10 years.

Departmental Policy

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what departmental policy reviews her Department has undertaken since 6 May 2010; on what date each such review  (a) was announced and  (b) is expected to publish its findings; what estimate she has made of the cost of each such review; who has been appointed to lead each such review; to what remuneration each review leader is entitled; how many (i) full-time equivalent civil servants and (ii) seconded staff are working on each such review; from which organisations such staff have been seconded; and how much on average such seconded staff will be paid for their work on the review.

Nick Herbert: The Home Office has announced eight policy reviews since 6 May 2010:
	
		
			  Review  Date announced  Date findings due to be published  Estimate of total cost of review  Appointed reviewer and remuneration  Number of FTE civil servants working on review( 1)  Number of seconded staff and average cost( 2) 
			 Counter-terrorism and security powers 13 July 2010 December 2010 Undertaken by civil servants in the course of normal duties Lord MacDonald of River Glaven. Daily rate of £380, and entitled to reasonable expenses. Estimate him working on the review for 20 days. 6-7 0 
			
			 Consultation on limiting migration 28 June 2010 Consultation closed on 17 September 2010. Government expect to make announcement before Christmas. Undertaken by civil servants in the course of normal duties. - 4 0 
			
			 Licensing Act 19 May 2010 Actions to be taken forward in Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill. Legislative slot to be confirmed. Undertaken by civil servants in the course of normal duties - 6 0 
			
			 Police Remuneration and Conditions of Service 18 May 2010 Stage one: February 2011 Stage two: June 2011 Subject of ongoing consideration Tom Winsor. Daily rate of £300, and entitled to reasonable expenses 3.4 0 
			
			 Anti-Social Behaviour tools and powers 28 July 2010 December 2010, prior to consultation Undertaken by civil servants in the course of normal duties. - 7 0 
			
			 Ending Child Detention for Immigration purposes 15 May 2010 Under discussion. Undertaken by civil servants in the course of normal duties. - 5 0 
			
			 Student Immigration System 24 June 2010 Early 2011 Undertaken by civil servants in the course of normal duties. - 3 0 
			
			 Extradition 8 September 2010 Late summer 2011 In the region of £150,000-£250,000 Sir Scott Baker. Paid in accordance with the normal rates of the Royal Courts of Justice and entitled to claim reasonable expenses. 4 0 
			 David Perry QC and Anand Doobay, two independent lawyers are also working on he review and will be paid in accordance with Treasury Solicitor rates.   
			 (1) Number of civil servants working directly on the reviews (not necessarily full-time). Others will contribute over the course of the reviews. (2 )We have interpreted these questions to refer to non-government secondees.

Departmental Travel

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate her Department has made of its expenditure on travel undertaken by  (a) her and  (b) each other Minister in her Department in (i) September and (ii) October 2010.

Nick Herbert: As set out in the Ministerial Code departments will publish, at least quarterly, details of all travel overseas by Ministers. Information for the second quarter will be published as soon as it is ready.
	All travel is undertaken in accordance with the Ministerial Code.

Departmental Work Experience

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many interns her Department has engaged in the last 12 months; and how many were  (a) unpaid,  (b) remunerated with expenses only and  (c) paid a salary.

Nick Herbert: The Home Office, including the UK Border Agency (UKBA) but excluding its other agencies, has engaged 31 interns during the last 12 months. Of these, seven were unpaid and 24 were paid at either the administrative assistant or administrative officer wage (both which are above the national minimum wage). We are unable to confirm how many were remunerated with expenses without incurring disproportionate cost.
	All of the intern placements were offered and accepted by the applicants prior to the Chancellor's announcement of a recruitment freeze across the civil service in May 2010.
	In addition, the Home Office, including UKBA but excluding its other agencies, appointed 24 undergraduates under the Fast Stream Summer Development Programme (SDP) and Summer Placement Scheme (SPS), and a further two undergraduates under the Windsor Fellowship. The SDP and SPS are 6-8 week placements offered to undergraduates from ethnic minority backgrounds and with disabilities respectively, and the Windsor Fellowship is a Leadership Programme offering 6-8 week placements for ethnic minority undergraduates who have been identified as having leadership potential. All 26 were remunerated at the executive officer wage.
	All 26 appointments relate to the Graduate Fast Stream Programme and were therefore exempt from the recruitment freeze.

Immigration

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the implications for UK citizens of the implementation of EU Directive 2006/24/EC on the retention of data.

Nick Herbert: The Data Retention (EC Directive) Regulations 2009 completed the transposition of the EU Directive 2006/24/EC into UK law. A public consultation was conducted prior to transposition to consider the impact of the regulations and its results were published. The UK is currently contributing to the assessment of the effectiveness of the directive being conducted by the European Commission, as required by the directive.
	We believe that the EU data retention directive provides a valuable basis for retaining communications data that is critical for serious crime investigations and to counter terrorism, both in the UK and elsewhere in Europe.

Institute for Fiscal Studies

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much her Department spent on services provided by the Institute for Fiscal Studies in each of the last 10 years.

Nick Herbert: The available information for expenditure on services provided by the Institute of Fiscal Studies is shown in the following table. This is expenditure on specialist training and development services. Financial records for the period 2001-02 to 2003-04 are not held centrally and the information could not be collected without incurring disproportionate cost.
	
		
			  Home Office expenditure on services provided by the institute of Fiscal Studies 
			   £ 
			 2001-02 Not available 
			 2002-03 Not available 
			 2003-04 Not available 
			 2004-05 1,128 
			 2005-06 2,321 
			 2006-07 1,500 
			 2007-08 0 
			 2008-09 6,400 
			 2009-10 8,222 
			 2010-11 0

Neighbourhood Policing Fund

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  when she expects to take a decision on the future of the neighbourhood policing fund;
	(2)  what recent discussions her Department has had with  (a) the Association of Chief Police Officers,  (b) the Association of Police Authorities and  (c) police forces on the future of the Neighbourhood Policing Fund.

Nick Herbert: In recent weeks I have spoken to chief constables, police authorities and others about the Government's reform plans for policing and the implications of the comprehensive spending review (CSR). Police community support officers (PCSOs) make an important contribution to neighbourhood policing and the visible and available policing in communities the public wish to see. Following the CSR, an announcement will be made to Parliament in early December on the details of police funding, including the specific grant for neighbourhood policing.

Newspaper Press: Telephone Hacking

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will request HM Inspectorate of Constabulary to review the Metropolitan Police Service's investigation into telephone hacking and blagging; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Herbert: The Metropolitan police are currently conducting further inquiries into recent telephone hacking allegations. As we have previously made clear, we believe the right course of action is to await the outcome of those inquiries.

Police

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions the police have entered premises for which they did not possess an appropriate warrant during raids  (a) nationally and  (b) in Milton Keynes in each of the last three years.

Nick Herbert: The information is not available centrally.

Police: Demonstrations

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what reports she has received from the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) on  (a) the estimated cost of the damage caused and  (b) the estimated number of criminal offences committed in the course of the demonstration in London on 10 November 2010; how many arrests were made; how many people were stopped and searched in connection with the demonstration; what the cost to the MPS was of policing the demonstration; what the policy of the MPS is on recovering policing costs from organisers of demonstrations; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Herbert: holding answer 15 November 2010
	I refer my hon. Friend to the statement I gave to the House on 11 November 2010,  Official Report, columns 457-468, on public disorder at the National Union of Students rally. As of 11 November, 47 arrests were made by the Metropolitan Police Service and three arrests by the British Transport Police. The Metropolitan Police Service will be carrying out a comprehensive post-incident investigation and will report to the Metropolitan Police Authority on its findings.

Police: Helicopters

Jack Lopresti: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the likely effects of the relocation of the Police response helicopter based at Filton Airfield to RAF Colerne on the ability of the proposed National Police Air Service to reduce crime.

Nick Herbert: A helicopter is one of a number of assets that can be used by the police to tackle crime. The effects of relocating air support from Filton airfield to RAF Colerne have been carefully considered in the development of the proposed National Police Air Service.
	The proposal will mean that the Western Counties aircraft is better placed to meet both urban and rural demand for air support, while offering better value for money for the taxpayer.

Police: Radiation Exposure

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what  (a) national and  (b) local agreements there are in relation to the radiation dose uptake limitation system adopted by each police force when attending a radiation emergency at each of the nuclear powered submarine operational berths maintained by the Ministry of Defence as required by Regulation 14 of the Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations 2001.

Nick Herbert: The Home Office does not hold the information requested. The health and safety of police officers is the responsibility of the relevant chief officer. In relation to potential radiation exposure, local police operational response plans will be informed by appropriate national guidance including for example, that issued by the Health and Safety Executive (including the Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations 2001) and the Health Protection Agency, as well as advice provided to local forces by Ministry of Defence personnel regarding any relevant military facilities located within a particular force area.

Rape

Alan Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps she plans to take to reduce the incidence of  (a) sexual assault on women and  (b) rape.

Theresa May: holding answer 11 October 2010
	Reducing the incidence of rape and sexual assault requires effective prevention, the conviction of offenders and the robust management of perpetrators and serial offenders.
	In addition, the Government's focus is on the rights and welfare of the victim and we are committed to ensuring that every victim of rape has access to appropriate support. In particular, we are looking at putting funding for rape crisis services on a more sustainable basis and looking at establishing new rape crisis centres where there are gaps in provision.
	Baroness Stern led an independent review into the way rape complaints are handled by public authorities in England and Wales. The Government will be responding fully to Baroness Stern's review in spring 2011.
	The Government are working to support agencies in the criminal justice system to ensure that the effective investigation and prosecution of rape results in the conviction of offenders, in addition, HM Inspectorate Constabulary and HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate are currently taking forward an inspection that focuses on the management of perpetrators, handling of intelligence on suspects and protection of victims from repeat offenders.

Rescue Services

Rory Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what division of her Department has responsibility for mountain rescue services; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Herbert: The Finance and Strategy Directorate has co-ordinating responsibility for queries on mountain rescue services across Government.
	The following Departments retain responsibility of aspects of mountain rescue services:
	Ministry of Defence
	Department of Transport
	Department for Communities and Local Government
	Department for Culture Media and Sport
	Cabinet Office
	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	HM Treasury
	Department for Health
	Home Office.

Safer Neighbourhood Teams

Conor Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans she has to assist the work of Safer Neighbourhood teams in the current Parliament.

Nick Herbert: The Government support neighbourhood policing which provides a dedicated, consistent and visible presence in communities, tackling crime and antisocial behaviour. Neighbourhood policing strengthens the public's confidence that the criminal justice system is on their side, encouraging them to play their own part in keeping their communities safe. Police community support officers make an important contribution to the visible and available policing the public wish to see.
	We will transfer power in policing, replacing bureaucratic accountability with democratic accountability. Police and Crime Commissioners will be directly elected by the public and hold the police to account for their performance, including the quality of neighbourhood policing.
	Neighbourhood policing teams will hold regular beat meetings to provide residents with the opportunity to hold them to account and local crime maps will give the public information on crime in their area.

Sexual Offences: Registration

Alun Cairns: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps her Department plans to take in response to the Supreme Court judgement on the Violent and Sex Offenders Register and Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 16 November 2010
	On 21 April 2010, in the case of R (on the application of F and Angus Aubrey Thompson)  v. Secretary of State for the Home Department (2010) UKSC 17, the Supreme Court declared the present arrangements requiring the indefinite registration of offenders under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, without the prospect of review, to be incompatible with article 8 of the European convention on human rights (ECHR). The effect of a declaration of incompatibility is not to render the relevant primary legislation invalid. Rather, such legislation remains in force until such time as the Government amend it. Protecting the public is a priority for the Home Office and the Secretary of State is considering the judgment carefully and liaising with partners in order to ascertain how best to give effect to the Court's judgment.

South Yorkshire

Angela Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the visit to Penistone and Stocksbridge constituency by a Minister in her Department on 4 November 2010 was classified as an official ministerial visit.

Lynne Featherstone: There were no official visits to the Penistone and Stocksbridge constituency by Ministers on this date. I visited a local initiative in a private capacity.

Terrorism: Detainees

Alan Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the conclusions of the July 2010 report of the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation in respect of the effects on national security of a reduction to 14 days of the maximum permissible pre-charge detention period.

Theresa May: holding answer 14 September 2010
	The maximum period that terrorists suspects can be detained before charge, including how this period can be reduced below 28 days, is being considered as part of my review of six key counter-terrorism and security powers that I announced to the House on 13 July. The review is taking into account a wide range of contributions, including the reports of Lord Carlile, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation. The outcome of the review will be reported to Parliament.

TREASURY

Charities: Finance

Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much Government funding was allocated to charities in each of the last 10 years; and what estimate he has made of the amount of funding to be allocated to charities in each of the next five years.

Justine Greening: Public funds reach charities through a variety of mechanisms, such as tax reliefs, grants, public service contracts, match-funding etc. It is therefore difficult to calculate total figures for Government allocation of funding to charities and information on this is not held centrally.
	The spending review set out a £470 million package of support for the sector including funding for an endowment fund (Community First) to help support local organisations, in addition to a £100 million transition fund. In addition, the Big Society Bank, funded by dormant account funds, will provide a new source of finance for the sector and will leverage in additional private sector resources.

Corporation Tax: Redcar

Ian Swales: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect on businesses in Redcar constituency of the reduction in the small profits rate of corporation tax.

David Gauke: No assessment is available on the effect on businesses in Redcar constituency of the reduction in the small profits rate of corporation tax.

Excise Duties: Beer

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much revenue is raised from a pint of beer of average price sold in  (a) a pub and  (b) a supermarket; and whether he has plans to provide support for pubs through fiscal measures.

Justine Greening: holding answer 16 November 2010
	Beer duty is levied according to the alcoholic strength of the product, and the same duty rate applies to all products regardless of their point of sale. In addition to excise duty, alcohol products are subject to VAT. The following table shows average prices and tax revenue on a pint of beer of 4.2% abv.
	
		
			  £ 
			   Average price  Duty  VAT  Total tax 
			  (a) On-trade 2.73 0.41 0.41 0.82 
			  (b) Off-trade 1.11 0.41 0.17 0.58 
		
	
	At the June Budget a number of measures were announced to boost business, from which pubs will benefit. These include a reduction in corporation tax rates, and reduced employers' national insurance contributions.

Investment

Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the annual change in the level of business investment was in each of the last five years; and what estimate he has made of the likely change in that level in each of the next five years.

Justine Greening: Business investment growth was 4.5% in 2005, 4.8% in 2006, 12.5% in 2007, -1.1% in 2008 and -18.8% in 2009. On 22 June 2010 the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast business investment to grow by 1.4% in 2010, 8.1% in 2011, 10.0% in 2012, 10.9% in 2013, 9.5% in 2014 and 8.2% in 2015. The OBR will publish an updated forecast on 29 November.

Members: Correspondence

Christopher Chope: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Christchurch of 4 October on Antony Bone.

Mark Hoban: I have replied to the hon. Member.

Child Poverty

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  whether his assessment that the outcomes of the Comprehensive Spending Review would have no measurable impact on child poverty for the next two years was made in respect of the period ending in March 2012;
	(2)  whether his assessment that the outcomes of the Comprehensive Spending Review would have no measurable impact on child poverty for the next two years took account of the provisions relating to the  (a) relative low income,  (b) combined low income and material deprivation,  (c) absolute low income and  (d) the persistent poverty target in the Child Poverty Act 2010; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  whether the tax and benefit microsimulation model used as the basis for his assessment that the outcomes of the Comprehensive Spending Review would have no measurable impact on child poverty for the next two years took account of the Government's proposed changes to  (a) housing benefit,  (b) council tax benefit,  (c) disability living allowance,  (d) employment support allowance and  (e) in-year income change rules for tax credits; and if he will make a statement;
	(4)  what account he took of his estimate of likely reductions in the numbers of public sector jobs in determining that the outcomes of the Comprehensive Spending Review would have no measurable impact on child poverty for the next two years; and if he will make a statement.

Justine Greening: The estimate that the impact of spending review measures would have no measurable impact on child poverty over the next two years was made in respect of relative low income poverty, and covers the period April 2011 to end March 2013.
	The data sources document accompanying the spending review sets out the measures which are included in this assessment.
	There is no central target for public sector workforce reductions. Individual employers will determine exact work force implications in line with their overall settlements. In addition, the data underpinning the Treasury's microsimulation model do not record whether individuals work in the public or private sector, which means that it is not possible to allocate any changes in work force numbers to individuals in the data in a sufficiently robust way. Accordingly, it was not possible to robustly estimate the impact of reductions in public sector jobs on child poverty at spending review.

Public Expenditure: Wales and Scotland

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the Barnett consequentials for  (a) Wales and  (b) Scotland will be of his decision to limit the geographic scope of the Cycling England programme to England; and if he will make a statement.

Danny Alexander: Barnett consequentials are calculated at departmental, not individual programme, level. Full details of the Barnett formula, together with up to date comparability factors are set out in the 2010 edition of the Treasury publication 'Funding the Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales and Northern Ireland Assembly: Statement of Funding Policy'.

Public Sector: Employment

Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many public sector jobs he expects there to be in each region in each of the next five years.

Danny Alexander: The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) released, as part of its Budget forecasts on 22 June 2010, projections for whole economy employment to 2015-16.
	Further information on its employment forecast, including projections for general Government employment, was released on 30 June 2010 in its document "OBR forecast: Employment", which can be found on the following webpage:
	http://budgetresponsibility.independent.gov.uk/publications.html
	A revised forecast will be released on 29 November 2010.
	The OBR has not published forecasts on a sub-national level.

Tax Evasion

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many  (a) individuals and  (b) organisations HM Revenue and Customs has (i) investigated and (ii) prosecuted for offences related to tax evasion in each of the last five years.

David Gauke: HMRC does not hesitate to use its criminal investigation powers to pursue a prosecution, however, cost-effective civil settlement procedures are used in the majority of evasion cases. This represents excellent value for the Exchequer, as all undeclared tax is repaid and they also pay a penalty which can be up to 100% of the tax evaded. Every year we collect millions of pounds of evaded tax using these tried, well-established methods.
	Compliance officers at all grades are engaged in a wide range of activities, which may include risk assessment, recovery of underpaid tax, the prevention of further tax losses, debt collection and the deterrence of tax evasion through, for example criminal investigation. The number of interventions these officers carried out in 2008-09 totalled approximately 400,000 excluding our education interventions.
	A disaggregated breakdown of HMRC's investigations between individuals and organisations is available only at disproportionate cost.
	Details of the number of cases prosecuted for income tax, corporation tax, VAT and excise evasion are:
	
		
			   Number 
			 2006-07 384 
			 2007-08 413 
			 2008-09 306 
			 2009-10 225

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Carbon Emissions

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what his most recent assessment is of the effect on the reduction of UK greenhouse gas emissions of carbon sink failure.

Gregory Barker: As indicated in my response to the hon. Member's question on 15 November 2010,  Official Report, column 601W, carbon sink failure at the global level is very unlikely. Any weakening of carbon sinks would reduce the global allowable emissions for a given temperature target, but projections for emissions reductions in accordance with a 2° C target take this factor into account. Because we do not expect that global carbon sink failure is a likely scenario it is not expected to have an impact on UK emissions reductions. The UK's carbon budgets under the Climate Change Act, combine both emissions and uptake from sinks. These are reported via the UK Greenhouse Gas Inventory funded by my Department, and increases or decreases in sinks are taken into account in measuring how the UK is meeting its carbon budgets.

Departmental Computer Software

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment was made in developing the 2050 Energy Pathways calculator tool of the merits of making it operate using Open Source software; what factors underpinned the choice of Microsoft Excel for PCs 2007 and 2010 for the tool; and what evaluation was made of the effects of the cost of obtaining this software on the likely levels of use of the calculator tool.

Gregory Barker: The 2050 Pathways Calculator is open source: the full model is available for inspection, improvement and reuse by anyone. As a result, the Department has received useful suggestions about how to improve the model during the Call for Evidence period which ran between 27 July and 5 October 2010. The file format is .xlxs, which is documented in the ECMA-376 international standard and therefore could be implemented by an open source equivalent to Excel.
	The only software that implements the file format sufficiently for the model to run is Microsoft Excel for PCs 2007 and 2010, and Microsoft Excel for Macs 2011. The reason is that the model includes "structured references" and these have not been implemented by open source Excel alternatives. Structured references were implemented in the "Excel to Ruby programming language" convertor which was released by the Department under an open source licence as part of the source code for the web version of the 2050 Calculator.
	In evaluating the consequences of the use of structured references, it was concluded that the benefit that structured references gave of allowing the model to be implemented and updated accurately within the time available outweighed the drawback of its inability to run on open source alternatives. This drawback was further mitigated by the availability of trial copies of appropriate versions of Microsoft Excel (which were free at the time of the Call for Evidence) and which meant that most people would be able to make use of the 2050 Calculator tool during the Call for Evidence period of the project.

EU Emissions Trading Scheme

Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change 
	(1)  whether he has made an assessment of the net effect of the implementation of the European Commission's proposed hybrid clinker benchmark for phase III of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme on environmental quality standards;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the likely net contribution of the implementation of the European Commission's proposed hybrid clinker benchmark for phase III of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme to meeting his Department's UK carbon budget targets;
	(3)  whether he has made an assessment of the potential for carbon leakage as a result of the implementation of the European Commission's proposal for a hybrid clinker benchmark for phase III of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme;
	(4)  whether he has had discussions with the European Commission on the methodology it used to determine the reduction factors proposed in relation to the clinker benchmark to be adopted under phase III of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme;
	(5)  what estimate he has made of the cost to businesses of complying with the European Commission's proposed hybrid clinker benchmark for phase III of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.

Gregory Barker: The European Commission's proposal for the free allocation rules for phase III of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) was sent to member states on 22 October. My officials are working closely with colleagues in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to analyse the proposal in detail in order to assess its impact on UK industry. My officials have met with representatives of the UK cement sector in order to discuss the proposal to ensure that we have a full understanding of the implications of the proposed approach. They will also be having discussions with the European Commission on this issue and further discussions with industry before any conclusions are reached.

Feed-in Tariffs

Jack Lopresti: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether feed-in tariffs are guaranteed for 25 years for new installations; and what factors would lead to their withdrawal.

Charles Hendry: The recent announcements in the comprehensive spending review confirmed any changes to feed-in tariffs as a result of future reviews of the scheme will only affect new entrants to the scheme from that point forward. The Government have no intention of changing tariffs for those already receiving FITs.

Fuel Poverty: Meters

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will take steps to increase the level of awareness among prepayment meter users in or at risk of fuel poverty of the  (a) availability of funding from energy efficiency programmes and  (b) possibility of carrying out improvement works without a landlord's permission.

Gregory Barker: The Government are committed to helping those households who are in fuel poverty. We recognise the need to help more of the most vulnerable to keep their homes warm at an affordable cost. Current schemes, including Warm Front and the carbon emissions reduction target (CERT) promote awareness across all customers, including those who have prepayment meters.
	In addition, from late 2012 the new energy company obligation, as part of our Green Deal initiative, will focus particularly on those households who need additional support, including the poorest and most vulnerable and those in hard to treat homes.
	Energy efficiency improvement works under the Green Deal will require a landlord's permission. However, we are seeking to create powers in the Energy Security and Green Economy Bill which could require landlords to honour reasonable requests for energy efficiency improvements, where a financial support package, such as the Green Deal, is available.

Heat Pumps

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will bring forward proposals to establish a system of independent verification of the average service life of air-sourced heat pumps.

Gregory Barker: We have no plans to bring forward such proposals. As with other microgeneration technologies, heat pumps are dealt with under the microgeneration certification scheme but this does not cover average service life.
	Service life is influenced by many factors including heat pump design, component selection, installation and maintenance, actual use against expected use, number of hours run, reliability of the sub-components and level of manufacturer support. Verification of average life taking account of all these variables would be an extremely resource intensive activity.

Heating: Fluorocarbons

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what information his Department holds on the proportion of installed heat pumps which use the refrigerant fluorocarbon gas, R404A.

Gregory Barker: The Department does not hold specific information on the proportion of heat pumps that use refrigerant R404A. A recent study, undertaken by AEA into refrigerant emissions and forecasts, identified only one refrigerant gas emitted from heat pumps- HFC 134.
	It might be concluded from this that only a very small proportion of heat pumps use refrigerant R404A. However the authors of the study indicated that it was not easy to locate information about the fluids and refrigerant charge size used in ground and air source heat pumps.

Nuclear Power

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the cost of hardening all UK civil nuclear installations against attack from land or sea-launched precision-guided penetrator weapons.

Charles Hendry: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 15 November 2010,  Official Report, column 609W. It is important that security measures adopted at civil nuclear installations are proportionate to the threat. Nuclear site licence companies are responsible for meeting the costs of security measures.

Renewable Energy

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he is taking to increase the amount of electricity generated from renewable sources.

Charles Hendry: The main financial mechanisms that the Government have to incentivise the generation of renewable electricity are the renewables obligation (RO) and the feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme:
	RO supports large-scale generation of renewable electricity. Since its introduction in 2002, it has tripled the level of renewable electricity in the UK from 1.8% to 6.7%(1) in 2009, and is currently worth around £1.4(2) billion/year in support to the renewable electricity industry. The spending review of 20 October 2010 announced that this level of funding will continue, confirming the Government's commitment to the increase of renewable electricity. The Electricity Market Reform consultation document is due to be published next month and will set out proposals for changes to the existing market in order to meet our renewables and decarbonisation goals. But whatever the proposal, the Government understand the need for investor certainty, and are not looking to make retrospective changes.
	The FIT scheme was launched on 1 April of this year and supports small-scale low carbon electricity generation up to 5MW (2kW for microCHP) in capacity. Initial figures for the first six months of the scheme (taken from Ofgem's online database) indicate that 8,960 installations commissioned since the announcement of the scheme in July 2009 were supported. This amounts to a total installed capacity of 35.8MW.
	We are also addressing the non-financial barriers to deployment:
	The spending review of 20 October 2010 included an announcement for over £200 million to support the development of energy technologies, of which £60 million has been earmarked for offshore wind manufacturing infrastructure at port locations. By supporting this manufacturing development, we are bringing forward industrial capacity that will help the UK meet its energy policy objectives. The Government are currently developing its detailed plans for the allocation of the remainder of this funding.
	Alongside this, we are working to remove grid connection barriers for low carbon energy production. We have already implemented enduring grid access reform in the form of a 'Connect and Manage' regime, so that new generation will be able to connect to the grid as soon as their local connection is built without waiting for wider network reinforcement. In addition, we have also been working to put in place the most effective regulatory regime for offshore electricity transmission, so that these connections can be delivered in a cost effective, timely and co-ordinated manner.
	A fast and efficient planning system is critical for facilitating investment in new major energy infrastructure, including renewables. The Government want a planning system for such infrastructure which is rapid, predictable and accountable. The Government intend to abolish the Infrastructure Planning Commission and replace it with a major infrastructure planning unit (MIPU). Under the MIPU system, the fast-track examination system would be retained but MIPU would make recommendations to Ministers who would then take the final decision. The new system gives local residents and community groups opportunities to become involved in the nationally significant infrastructure projects development consents process.
	We will publish our renewables delivery plan in the spring. This will set out the actions necessary to drive faster deployment of renewables through the decade.
	(1) Department of Energy and Climate Change, June 2010 Energy Trends
	(2) Ofgem:
	http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Sustainability/Environment/RenewablObl/Pages/RenewablObl.aspx

Renewable Energy

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of likely sources of funding to meet the cost of reaching renewable energy targets by 2020.

Charles Hendry: holding answer 12 November 2010
	 We expect funding to help meet our renewable energy target to come from a mix of sources including the renewable financial incentives, direct public funding to support innovation, and private investment.
	The main financial mechanisms that the Government have to incentivise the generation of renewable electricity are the renewables obligation (RO) and the feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme, with the renewable heat incentive due to go ahead in June 2011 to support renewable heat.
	We are due to publish the electricity market reform consultation document next month. This will set out proposals for changes to the existing market in order to meet our renewables and decarbonisation goals. But whatever the proposal, Government understand the need for investor certainty and protection of existing investments.

Renewable Energy: Israel

Richard Harrington: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent steps he has taken to increase levels of energy efficiency; and whether he has assessed the merits of working together with Israel on the development of (a) solar and  (b) other renewable energy systems for the purpose of increasing those levels.

Gregory Barker: The coalition Government have taken a number of significant steps to improve energy efficiency. Key policies include developing the Green Deal to drive major improvements in the energy efficiency of homes and businesses; committing to reducing carbon emissions from central Government by 10% by May 2011; and committing to the rollout of smart meters.
	While DECC does engage with Israel through multilateral fora that seek to promote renewable energy-such as the International Renewable Energy Agency-and while the UK and Israel are both members of the International Energy Agency's Photovoltaic Power Systems R&D collaboration programme, no specific work has been done by the Department to engage Israel further on either solar or other renewable energy technologies.

Warm Front Scheme

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what plans he has for the future of the eligibility criteria for the Warm Front scheme; and if he will ensure that those who are eligible for assistance under the scheme on the sole ground that they may receive disability living allowance continue to be eligible for such assistance.

Gregory Barker: As announced in the spending review, DECC will fund a smaller, more targeted Warm Front scheme over the next two years as we transition to the full role out of the Green Deal.
	We will shortly be consulting on proposed changes to Warm Front to ensure the eligibility criteria reflect our determination to focus on the most vulnerable households.

Warm Front Scheme: Fuel Poverty

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the likely effects on those in fuel poverty of the proposed reductions in funding for the Warm Front scheme in the next two financial years.

Gregory Barker: The spending review commits very significant resources to tackling fuel poverty. DECC will fund a smaller, more targeted Warm Front scheme over the next two years as we transition to the full roll out of the Green Deal and the energy company obligation. We will shortly be consulting on proposed changes to Warm Front to ensure the eligibility criteria reflect our determination to focus on the most vulnerable households. We have made permanent the increase to cold weather payments at £25 a week to help low income households during periods of cold weather. In addition, from April 2011, energy suppliers will provide greater help with energy bills to more of the most vulnerable fuel poor households, through social price support.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Care Homes: Boilers

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he plans to take to ensure that hot water tanks heated by heat pumps comply with health and safety legislation designed to ensure control of legionella in  (a) residential homes and  (b) Government buildings.

Chris Grayling: Existing health and safety legislation requires all employers who manage premises with a hot/cold water system to consider the risks from legionella bacteria that may affect their staff or members of the public and to take suitable precautions. These requirements extend to Government Departments. Commercial businesses or public services that provide residential accommodation have the same responsibility as employers if, in general, they are responsible for the maintenance and repairs of the water system at the premises. The use of new energy saving technology to heat water, including heat pumps, does not in itself introduce a new legionella bacteria risk. HSE has published guidance to assist employers, which is freely available from HSE's website.

Carer's Allowance

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the cost of allowing carers who are enrolled in courses designated as full-time or in training for more than 20 hours per week to receive carer's allowance in the first 12 months following such a change.

Maria Miller: No such estimate has been made.
	Carer's allowance provides a measure of financial support for people who forgo the opportunity of full-time employment in order to provide care for a severely disabled person.
	The educational maintenance system, via its range of loans and grants, provides financial support for full-time students, including carers. In consequence, people engaged in full-time study are generally precluded from entitlement to income-replacement and income-related social security benefits.

Carer's Allowance

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he plans to extend the eligibility criteria for carers allowance to enable more carers who are studying or in training to claim the allowance.

Maria Miller: The Government recognise that the United Kingdom's 6 million carers play an indispensable role in looking after family members or friends who need support.
	Carer's allowance provides a measure of financial support for people who forgo the opportunity of full-time employment in order to provide care for a severely disabled person.
	The educational maintenance system, via its range of loans and grants, provides financial support for full-time students, including carers. In consequence, people engaged in full-time study are generally precluded from entitlement to income-replacement and income-related social security benefits.
	We have set out our commitment to simplify the benefit system in order to improve work incentives and encourage responsibility and fairness. We will consider carefully the needs of carers as we develop our plans for welfare reform.

Child Benefit

Julie Hilling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Erith and Thamesmead of 19 October 2010,  Official Report, column 643W, on child benefit, whether there has been a re-assessment of the changes announced to child benefit in relation to the effects on national insurance credits towards state pension; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Webb: We are still considering the full implications of the changes announced to child benefit to ensure that those entitled continue to receive national insurance credits towards their state pension.

Departmental Early Retirement

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many staff of  (a) his Department and  (b) its agencies have been offered enhanced early retirement packages in each of the last three years.

Chris Grayling: The early retirement benefits that are available to civil servants are set out in the Civil Service Compensation Scheme. Currently there are two categories of enhanced early retirement benefits: flexible early retirement and compulsory early retirement.
	Flexible early retirement provides an enhancement of up to six and two thirds years to the reckonable service used to calculate pension benefits. The enhancement cannot take the adjusted reckonable service beyond that which would have been earned by pension age (age 60) nor can it take the total enhanced reckonable service beyond the maximum of 45 years.
	Compulsory early retirement benefits include the same enhancement applicable to the flexible early retirement pension calculation plus a lump sum compensation payment of up to six months' pay.
	Central records are not kept of the number of packages offered, however, the following table sets out the numbers of employees who opted to leave the Department for Work and Pensions and its agencies in the last three years under enhanced early retirement packages.
	
		
			  Agency  Flexible early retirement  Compulsory early retirement  Total enhanced retirements 
			  2007-08
			 Jobcentre Plus 95 323 418 
			 Pension, Disability Carers Service 247 157 404 
			 Corporate and Shared Services 69 22 91 
			 DWP total 411 502 913 
			 
			  2008-09
			 Jobcentre Plus 17 70 87 
			 Pension, Disability Carers Service 1 122 123 
			 Corporate and Shared Services 5 7 12 
			 DWP total 23 199 222 
			 
			  2009-10
			 Jobcentre Plus 3 11 14 
			 Pension, Disability Carers Service 2 0 2 
			 Corporate and Shared Services 5 0 5 
			 DWP total 10 11 21

Departmental Pay

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was paid to officials in his Department and its non-departmental public bodies in bonuses and other payments in addition to salary in each year since 1997; how many officials received such payments; and what the monetary values was of the largest 20 payments made in each such year.

Chris Grayling: The information has been placed in the Library.

Departmental Pay

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what allowances and payments in addition to salary were available to officials in his Department and its non-departmental public bodies in each year since 1997; and what the monetary value was of payments and allowances of each type in each such year.

Chris Grayling: The Department for Work and Pensions was established in 2002 and information can be provided only from that date. DWP has 16 allowances that can be paid in addition to salary, four of which are payable only to employees who hold reserved rights to those particular allowances.
	Details of the individual rates of allowances and payments payable since the Department's first harmonised pay award in 2002 have been provided in a separate table which has been placed in the Library. The table also includes 14 allowances that have been abolished; many of which were abolished following a review held in 2005. The Department could provide details of the total amount spent on these allowances only at disproportionate cost.
	The rates of allowances across DWP and NDPBs are frozen for two years (2010-11 and 2011-12) as part of the pay freeze. We are currently reviewing all departmental expenditure to drive out inefficiencies and deliver value for money for the taxpayer.
	 Non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs)
	Details of the total amount spent on allowances and other payments for NDPBs are provided in the following table:
	
		
			  £ 
			  Body  Payment/allowance type  2005-06  2006-07  2007-08  2008-09  2009-10 
			 The Pension Regulator (TPR) Duty Allowance n/a n/a 48,470 85,277 134,698 
			  Duty Rota Allowance 1,117 4,549 11,097 15,537 15,552 
			  First Aiders' Allowance 3,756 5,121 5,215 4,410 4,422 
			
			 Pensions Ombudsman (PO) and Pension Protection Fund Ombudsman (PPFO) Responsibility Allowance n/a n/a 6,567 6,000 5,560 
			
			 Pension Protection Fund (PPF) Additional Responsibility Allowance n/a n/a n/a 48,000 0 
			
			 Independent Living Fund (ILF) On Call Allowance n/a n/a 1,503 2,688 2,994 
			
			 Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Recruitment and Retention Addition 171,713 192,428 258,188 253,669 277,833 
			  Qualification Allowance 6,250 4,250 8,500 2,500 3,950 
			
			 Child Maintenance and Executive Committee (CMEC)(1, 2) Emergency Officers' Allowance n/a n/a n/a 472 0 
			  Language Allowance n/a n/a n/a 318 310 
			  Locational Allowance n/a n/a n/a 4,689 0 
			  On Call Allowance n/a n/a n/a 2,399 7,090 
			  Private Secretary Allowance n/a n/a n/a 2,579 9,103 
			  Procurement Allowance n/a n/a n/a 9,402 45,398 
			  Responsibility Allowance n/a n/a n/a 2,431 16,460 
			  Responsibility on Temporary Duties Allowance n/a n/a n/a (3)- 671 
			  Secondment Allowance n/a n/a n/a (3)- 7,024 
			  Shorthand Audio Allowance n/a n/a n/a 455 849 
			  Skills Allowance n/a n/a n/a 2,257 14,939 
			  Skills Annual Allowance n/a n/a n/a n/a 3,000 
			  Typing Allowance n/a n/a n/a 858 1,941 
			  Extended Working Hours Allowance n/a n/a n/a 969,402 2.3 million 
			  Miscellaneous Allowance n/a n/a n/a 3,413 560 
			 n/a = Allowance was not applicable. (1) Figures for CMEC are from its inception in November 2008 to March. (2) Table excludes Temporary Duty Allowance where a member of staff 2010 is acting temporarily in a higher. (3) Not available.

Departmental Sick Leave

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what programmes his Department and its agencies have to reduce the number of working days lost through sickness and absence.

Chris Grayling: The Department has cut average sickness absence by 25%, from 11.1 days per employee per year in 2007 to 8.3 days per employee per year currently. The latter figure is below the rate of 9.6 days per employee per year reported by the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development for the public sector in 2010.
	The Department achieved this reduction by applying an ongoing programme to help employees maintain good health, such as providing stress counselling. Where employees do take sick leave, we use occupational health services to support rehabilitation. If, following the provision of all reasonable help, an employee is unable to maintain a satisfactory attendance record, action is taken to dismiss or retire them on ill health grounds.
	Other types of unauthorised absence are investigated on a case by case basis. Where appropriate, disciplinary action is taken.

Employment

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of  (a) men and  (b) women between the ages of 21 and 60 years have been in employment (i) full-time, (ii) part-time and (iii) in total in each year from 1980 to 2009; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Hurd: I have been asked to reply.
	The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	 Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated November 2010:
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking what proportion of (a) men and (b) women between the ages of 21 and 60 years have been in employment (i) full-time, (ii) part-time and (iii) in total in each year from 1980 to 2009. (24359)
	Estimates for people in employment are derived from the Labour Force Survey. The table provided shows the information requested from 1992 to 2009. Comparable estimates prior to 1992 are not available.
	
		
			  Proportion( 1 ) of men and women aged 21 to 60 in full-time and part-time employment, three months ending June, 1992 to 2009, United Kingdom, not seasonally adjusted 
			  Percentage 
			   Male  Female 
			   Full-time  Part-time  Total( 2)  Full-time  Part-time  Total( 2) 
			 1992 79 3 81 38 28 66 
			 1993 77 3 80 38 29 66 
			 1994 77 3 81 38 29 67 
			 1995 78 3 81 38 28 67 
			 1996 77 4 81 38 29 67 
			 1997 78 4 82 39 29 68 
			 1998 79 4 83 39 29 69 
			 1999 79 4 84 40 29 69 
			 2000 80 4 84 41 29 70 
			 2001 80 4 84 41 29 71 
			 2002 79 5 84 41 29 71 
			 2003 79 5 85 42 29 71 
			 2004 79 5 84 42 29 71 
			 2005 79 5 84 43 29 72 
			 2006 79 5 84 44 28 72 
			 2007 79 5 85 43 28 72 
			 2008 79 6 85 44 28 72 
			 2009(3) *76 *6 *82 *44 *28 *72 
			 (1) The proportion is the number of people in each employment status divided by the population. (2) Total includes those whose full-time and part-time status was not known. (3) Coefficients of Variation have been calculated for the latest period as an indication of the quality of the estimates, as described below.  Guide to Quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of an estimate, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV-for example, for an estimate of 200 with a CV of 5% we would expect the population total to be within the range 180-220.  Key: * 0 = CV<5%-Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered precise **5 = CV <10%-Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered reasonably precise ***10 = CV <20%-Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered acceptable ****CV ? 20%-Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposes CV = Coefficient of Variation  Note: It should be noted that the above estimates exclude people in most types of communal establishment (e.g. hotels, boarding houses, hostels mobile home sites etc.)  Source: Labour Force Survey (LFS).

Employment and Support Allowance

Nicky Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  how many people are claiming contributory employment and support allowance in the work-related activity group; and how many of those cited a mental health condition as their primary reason for claiming;
	(2)  how many people are claiming contributory employment and support allowance; and how many of those cited a mental health condition as their primary reason for claiming.

Maria Miller: The information is provided in the following table.
	
		
			  Number of contributory employment and support allowance claimants under the mental and behavioural disorders category by stage of claim-February  2010, Great Britain 
			Number 
			 All ESA claimants All stages 479,430 
			  Work related group 80,910 
			
			 ESA claimants with a contributory element All stages 203,680 
			  Work related group 43,070 
			
			  Mental and behavioural category   
			 All ESA claimants All stages 182,880 
			  Work related group 31,700 
			
			 ESA claimants with a contributory element All stages 62,120 
			  Work related group 12,740 
			  Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. ESA statistics by medical condition can be found at http://83.244.183.180/ESA/esa_additional_feb10.xls 3. Benefit type-The type of ESA is defined as pay status at the case load date-this may differ to the status at the start or end of the claim 4. Employment and support allowance (ESA) replaced incapacity benefit and income support paid on the grounds of incapacity for new claims from 27 October 2008 5. Stage of ESA claim-The stage of claim is derived from the amount of payment a claimant receives. There are a number of cases where the stage is unknown, these are claimants which do not receive any payment for ESA (those who receive national insurance credits only). 6. ICD (disease) code Causes of incapacity are based on the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision published by the World Health Organisation. Medical condition is based on evidence provided at the start of the claim, this in itself does not confer entitlement to employment support allowance and may not represent a claimants most recent medical condition. For ESA claimants, data on medical condition is only available from February 2010 onwards.  Source: DWP Information Directorate: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100%

Employment and Support Allowance: Birmingham

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Birmingham, Hall Green constituency applied for and were refused employment and support allowance in each of the last two years for which figures are available.

Chris Grayling: This information is not available for individual constituencies.
	The following table presents the outcome for all employment and support allowance (ESA) claims received in the Birmingham local authority area for the dates shown. The table presents data between October 2008, when ESA was introduced, to February 2010, the latest data available.
	
		
			  Outcome of all ESA claims received in Birmingham local authority area, rounded to nearest 10 
			  Month of claim start  Support Group  Work Related Activity Group  Fit for Work  Claim closed before assessment complete  Assessment still in progress  Total 
			  2008   
			 October 20 20 60 70 0 170 
			 November 50 90 360 360 10 860 
			 December 60 100 290 290 10 740 
			
			  2009   
			 January 70 140 400 420 10 1,030 
			 February 70 150 400 390 10 1,020 
			 March 70 170 510 410 10 1,170 
			 April 60 140 490 380 20 1,090 
			 May 70 140 550 390 10 1,150 
			 June 60 140 520 380 10 1,120 
			 July 70 140 540 430 10 1,180 
			 August 60 140 470 350 10 1,040 
			 September 80 150 490 330 20 1,070 
			 October 50 140 470 330 20 1,000 
			 November 40 150 450 320 30 990 
			 December 60 110 350 270 30 820 
			
			  2010   
			 January 60 190 460 390 50 1,150 
			 February 50 160 450 340 80 1,080 
			 Total 980 2,260 7,270 5,830 340 16,680 
			  Source: Benefit claims data held by the Department for Work and Pensions and functional assessment data sourced from Atos Healthcare

Employment: Public Sector

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of people were employed in the public sector in each region in the latest period for which figures are available.

Nick Hurd: I have been asked to reply.
	The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	 Letter from Stephen Penneck dated November 2010:
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning how many and what proportion of people were employed in the public sector in each region in the latest period for which figures are available. (24233)
	Estimates of employment for the UK public sector are taken from the ONS release on Public Sector Employment at
	www.statistics.gov.uk
	The latest period for which figures are available is Quarter 2 2010.
	The table attached provides the requested data.
	
		
			  Regional employment: by region and country of workplace Q2 2010( 1) , not seasonally adjusted 
			  Thousand 
			   Public sector  
			  Region  Headcount( 3)  Percentage  Total  e mployment( 2) 
			 London 782 18.7 4,172 
			 South East 684 17.3 3,957 
			 South West 518 20.3 2,551 
			 West Midlands 503 20.5 2,452 
			 North West 690 21.8 3,164 
			 North East 285 25.1 1,136 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 534 22.3 2,391 
			 East Midlands 384 19.5 1,973 
			 East of England 457 17.8 2,566 
			 Wales 343 26.5 1,296 
			 Scotland(4) 606 24.8 2,450 
			 Northern Ireland(5) 228 30.0 759 
			 England 4,838 19.9 24,361 
			 Great Britain 5,787 20.6 28,107 
			 United Kingdom(6) 6,048 20.8 29,142 
			 (1) Estimates are based on where people are employed. (2) Labour Force Survey-All in employment aged 16 and over. Data refer to May to July 2010. (3) Public sector estimates include banks reclassified to the public sector-Northern Rock from 9 October 2007, Bradford and Bingley from 26 September 2008, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group from 13 October 2008. (4) Estimates of PSE for Scotland are supplied by Scottish Government and match those produced by Scottish Government on a quarterly basis. (5) Estimates of PSE for Northern Ireland will differ to those published by DETINI; ONS figures include HM Forces personnel. In addition, ONS percentage figures use the Labour Force Survey employment as a denominator as opposed to the Quarterly Employment Survey employee estimate used by DETINI. (6) Includes overseas employees, those who did not state their region of workplace when surveyed as part of the Labour Force Survey and approximately 30,000 public sector employees that could not be assigned to a region.

Funeral Payments

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many complaints his Department has received on the funeral payment in the latest period for which figures are available.

Steve Webb: Jobcentre Plus does not collate or record complaints about Funeral Payments separately.
	From April 2010 to 9 November 2010 1,060 complaints relating to the Social Fund were received by Jobcentre Plus. This does not include any complaints that may have been made directly to the chief executive.
	 Source
	Jobcentre Plus Management Information; Date extracted: 9 November 2010
	 Notes
	1. The information provided is derived from operational processes and systems solely for the purposes of helping the department to manage its business. It has not been subjected to the rigorous quality assurance checks that our published Official Statistics are put through.
	2. Scotland is not included in the total from August 2010 as the Scottish region is currently piloting a new method of recording customer feedback. Funeral Payment data will not be specifically recorded under this new method.
	3. The figure includes Budgeting Loans, Community Care Grants, Crisis Loans and Sure Start Maternity Grant complaints as well as Funeral Payments.
	4. The figure has been rounded to the nearest 10.
	Government Ministers receive correspondence about Funeral Payments, to which Department for Work and Pensions Ministers or officials reply. (This does not include letters on purely operational issues which are passed to Jobcentre Plus for response by the chief executive.) Some of this correspondence will be complaints, but without investigating each individual case, it is not possible to say which were complaints. The number of such cases received about Funeral Payments from April 2010 to 9 November 2010 was 50.
	 Source
	Department for Work and Pensions records
	 Note
	The figure has been rounded to the nearest 10.

Funeral Payments

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has for the qualifying criteria for payment of funeral payment grant.

Steve Webb: Our plans for reforming the Social Fund were set out in the White Paper "Universal Credit: welfare that works" (Cm 7957) published on 11 November 2010. The reforms do not include any changes to the qualifying criteria for funeral payments.

Funeral Payments

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost to the public purse of the funeral payment grant scheme has been in each of the last three years.

Steve Webb: The available information is given in the table.
	
		
			  Cost of the Funeral Payment scheme in Great Britain 
			  £ million 
			  Financial year  2007-08  2008-09  2009-10 
			 Gross expenditure 46.0 48.4 47.1 
			 Recoveries 0.7 0.7 0.2 
			 Administration cost 4.6 5.1 5.5 
			 Net total cost 49.8 52.8 52.4 
			  Notes: 1. The information provided is management information. Our preference is to answer all parliamentary questions using Official/National Statistics but in this case we only have management information available. It is not quality assured to the same extent as Official/National statistics and there are some issues with the data, for example, gross expenditure does not include claims which were processed clerically and had not been entered on to the Social Fund Computer System by the end of the relevant financial year. 2. The administration costs are the total Jobcentre Plus costs, including re-considerations, but excluding work on appeals. 3. Figures have been rounded to the nearest £0.1 million and may not sum due to rounding.  Sources: Department for Work and Pensions Social Fund Policy, Budget and Management Information System Jobcentre Plus Activity Based Management Models

Funeral Payments

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what account he takes of the average cost of a funeral in determining the level of the funeral benefit payment.

Steve Webb: Social Fund Funeral Payments are not based on average funeral costs. The specific costs of burial or cremation are taken fully into account when each payment is made. In addition, up to £700 can be paid for other related funeral expenses.

Future Jobs Fund

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many young people in each  (a) region and  (b) local authority area have taken part in the Future Jobs Fund programme in each of the last six months.

Chris Grayling: The Young Person's Guarantee statistics were published on 13 October 2010 and cover the period from October 2009 to July 2010. The table shows the number of young people in each  (a) region and  (b) local authority area that have taken part in the Future Jobs Fund programme in each of the six months from February to July 2010.
	The information has been placed in the Library.

Future Jobs Fund: Local Government

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which local authorities have taken part in the Future Jobs Fund programme in the last six months.

Chris Grayling: The local authorities, who have taken part in the Future Jobs Fund in the last six months are detailed in the following list. The local authorities are either the Lead Accountable Body, responsible for the co-ordination and administration of the approved bid on behalf of their partners, or have been communicated to the Department as being partners in a delivering a Future Jobs Fund grant.
	Aberdeen City Council
	Aberdeenshire Council
	Angus Council
	Argyll and Bute Council
	Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council
	Bedford Borough Council
	Birmingham City Council
	Blackpool Council
	Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council
	Bolsover District Council
	Bournemouth Borough Council
	Bracknell Forest Council
	Brighton and Hove City Council
	Bristol City Council
	Buckinghamshire County Council
	Burnley Borough Council
	Caerphilly County Borough Council
	Calderdale Metropolitan Borough
	Cambridge City Council
	Cambridgeshire County Council
	Camden Council
	Cannock Chase District Council
	Cardiff Council
	Carmarthenshire County Council
	Carmarthenshire County Council
	Central Bedfordshire Council
	Cheshire West and Chester Council
	City of Bradford MDC
	City of Edinburgh Council
	Clackmannanshire Council
	Colchester Borough Council
	Copeland Borough Council
	Coventry City Council
	Cumbria County Council
	Darlington Borough Council
	Devon County Council
	Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council
	Dorset County Council
	Dorset Police Force
	Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council
	Dumfries and Galloway Council
	Dundee City Council
	East Ayrshire Council
	East Dunbartonshire Council
	East Lothian Council
	East Renfrewshire Council
	East Sussex County Council
	Epping Forest District Council
	Erewash Borough Council
	Exeter City Council
	Falkirk Council
	Fife Council
	Fylde Council
	Gamlingay Parish Council
	Gateshead Council
	Glasgow City Council
	Halton Metropolitan Borough Council
	Hambleton District Council
	Hampshire County Council
	Harlow District Council
	Hartlepool Borough Council
	Hastings Borough Council
	Herefordshire Council
	Hertfordshire County Council
	Hinckley and Bosworth Council
	Histon and Impington Parish Councils
	Hull City Council
	Inverclyde Council
	Islington Council
	Kent County Council
	Kirklees Council
	Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council
	Lancashire County Council
	Lancaster City Council
	Leeds City Council
	Leicester City Council
	Liverpool City Council
	London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
	London Borough of Merton
	London Borough of Wandsworth
	London Borough of Barking and Dagenham
	London Borough of Bromley
	London Borough of Ealing
	London Borough of Greenwich
	London Borough of Hackney
	London Borough of Haringey
	London Borough of Havering
	London Borough of Hounslow
	London Borough of Lambeth
	London Borough of Lewisham
	London Borough of Newham
	London Borough of Redbridge
	London Borough of Tower Hamlets
	Longstanton Parish Council
	Luton Borough Council
	Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council
	Middlesbrough Council
	Midlothian Council
	Milton Keynes Council
	Moray Council
	Neath Port Talbot Council
	Newport City Council
	Norfolk County Council
	North Ayrshire Council
	North Dorset District Council
	North East Lincolnshire Council
	North Lanarkshire Council
	North Lincolnshire Council
	North Somerset Council
	North Tyneside Council
	North Yorkshire County Council
	Nottingham City Council
	Oxfordshire County Council
	Pembrokeshire County Council
	Pennine Lancashire MAA
	Perth and Kinross Council
	Peterborough City Council
	Portsmouth City Council
	Powys County Council
	Preston City Council
	RB Kingston upon Thames
	Reading Borough Council
	Redcar and Cleveland Borough LSP
	Renfrewshire Council
	Ribble Valley Borough Council
	Richmondshire District Council
	Rossendale Borough Council
	Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
	Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead
	Salford City Council
	Sandwell metropolitan Borough Council
	Scarborough Borough Council
	Scottish Borders Council
	Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council
	Sheffield City Council
	Shropshire Council County Training
	Slough Borough Council
	Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council
	Somerset County Council
	South Ayrshire Council
	South Bucks District Council
	South Gloucestershire County Council
	South Lanarkshire Council
	Southampton City Council
	Stevenage Borough Council
	Stirling Council
	Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council
	Stoke on Trent City Council
	Suffolk County Council
	Surrey County Council
	Sussex Police Force
	Swansea Council for Voluntary Service
	Swindon Borough Council
	Telford and Wrekin Council
	Thanet District Council
	The Highland Council
	Torbay Council
	Torfaen County Borough Council
	Torridge District Council
	Trowbridge Town Council
	Tyne and Wear City region
	Uttlesford District Council
	Vale of Glamorgan Council
	Wakefield Council
	Walsall Council
	Warwickshire County Council
	Wealden District Council
	West Dorset District Council
	West Dunbartonshire Council
	West Lindsey District Council
	West Lothian Council
	West Sussex County Council
	Westminster City Council
	Weymouth and Portland Borough Council
	Wiltshire Council
	Wokingham Borough Council
	Wolverhampton City Council
	Worcestershire County Council
	Wycombe District Council
	Wyre Council

Future Jobs Fund: Local Government

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the name is of each partner organisation with which each participating local authority has worked to provide placements for young people on the Future Jobs Fund programme in each of the last six months.

Chris Grayling: The information has been placed in the Library.

Housing Benefit: Greater London

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent estimate he has made of the proportion of rented accommodation in each London borough which is occupied by recipients of housing benefit.

Steve Webb: My most recent estimate is that approximately 40% of tenants in the private rented sector receive housing benefit.
	This is a national figure; reliable estimates at a local level are not available.

Industrial Health and Safety

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the likely effects on health and safety standards of the implementation of proposals to combine the roles of food safety and health and safety inspectors in local authorities.

Chris Grayling: Lord Young is working with the Health and Safety Executive, the Food Standards Agency and the Local Government Regulation to take forward his recommendations which were published in his report "Common Sense, Common Safety". Many local authorities already combine food safety and health and safety inspections or have the capability to do this. The intention is to build on existing good practices which are currently used in food premises. Local authorities will continue to respond to health and safety complaints and incidents with a risk based approach. The system will be more standardised, more efficient and more transparent for the consumer.

Mortgage Payments

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the number of people resident in the South East in receipt of support for mortgage interest who have mortgages with interest rates higher than 3.63 per cent.; and if he will estimate the proportion of such people who have mortgages with interest rates higher than 3.63 per cent owing to  (a) low income and  (b) poor credit history.

Steve Webb: This information is not available because the Department does not collect management information on the actual interest rates that apply to support for mortgage interest customers' loans.

Mortgages: Government Assistance

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he has made an estimate of the cost to the public purse of providing housing support to those who will no longer have their eligible mortgage interest outgoings fully met by their benefit awards as a result of lowering the rate of interest used to calculate support for mortgage interest.

Steve Webb: The standard interest rate used to calculate support for mortgage interest was fixed at 6.08% by the last Administration. That rate was too generous and resulted in the vast majority of people getting more than their eligible mortgage interest liability, which was unfair to taxpayers.
	The plans of the previous Government would have meant that the standard interest rate would have reverted to the formula of Bank of England base rate plus 1.58% from January 2011, which at present would produce a rate of 2.08%.
	The Chancellor announced in the June 2010 Budget that the standard interest rate would be based on the Bank of England's published monthly average mortgage interest rate. Legislation to introduce this change came into effect from 1 October 2010 and the standard interest rate is currently 3.63%.
	The Department conducted thorough analysis on the likely impacts of this change, and we have included as much information as possible in the equality impact assessment published on the Department's website.
	http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/support-for-mortgage-interest.pdf
	Information on the cost to the public purse of providing housing support to those who will no longer have their eligible mortgage interest outgoings fully met by their benefit awards as a result of lowering the rate of interest used to calculate support for mortgage interest is not available
	Support for mortgage interest customers would not usually be eligible for other housing support while remaining as an owner occupier.
	The Department does not capture information on reasons for ending a benefit claim, including support for mortgage interest, so does not capture the number of claimants who no longer receive support for mortgage interest payments because they have moved into rented accommodation, or the associated costs to the public purse where these customers become eligible for housing benefit. Furthermore, the relationship between arrears and continued home ownership is a complex one dependant on more than the level of support for mortgage interest payable.
	The Department is in the process of developing a model to estimate the impact of changes to support for mortgage interest on the number of repossessions. However any estimates will always be limited since detailed case-by-case information, such as arrears at the start of a claim, is not collected by the department. The Department will consider whether the results can be used publicly once this is work is complete.
	The Council of Mortgage Lenders has told the Department that it expects lenders to continue to exercise forbearance where it is fair to do so for the borrower, and the borrower has a chance of paying off any arrears in the future. The Council of Mortgage Lenders thinks that where arrears levels increase for some borrowers as a result of the change in the standard interest rate this does not translate into an immediate possession risk.

Mortgages: Government Assistance

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effect on households with disabled residents of changes to the rate of mortgage interest support.

Steve Webb: The standard interest rate used to calculate support for mortgage interest was fixed at 6.08% by the last administration. That rate was too generous and resulted in the vast majority of people getting more than their eligible mortgage interest liability, which was unfair to taxpayers.
	The plans of the previous Government would have meant that the standard interest rate would have reverted to the formula of Bank of England Base rate plus 1.58% from January 2011, which at present would produce a rate of 2.08%.
	The Chancellor announced in the June 2010 Budget that the standard interest rate would be based on the Bank of England's published monthly average mortgage interest rate. Legislation to introduce this change came into effect from 1 October 2010 and the standard interest rate is currently 3.63%.
	The Department conducted thorough analysis on the likely impacts of this change on different groups, including on disabled people, and we have included as much information on this as possible in the Equality Impact Assessment published on the Department's website.
	http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/support-for-mortgage-interest.pdf
	At the comprehensive spending review 2010, the Chancellor announced a one year extension to the temporary package of Support for Mortgage Interest changes that had been due to expire in January 2011. This extension maintains the waiting period for new working age claimants at 13 weeks and the limit on eligible mortgage capital at £200,000, and provides additional support to homeowners facing difficulties.

Unemployment: Cumbernauld

Gregg McClymont: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent estimate he has made of the number of workless households in Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East constituency.

Nick Hurd: I have been asked to reply.
	The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	 Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated November 2010:
	.
	The latest available data from the Annual Population Survey (APS) show that in 2009, the number of workless households in the Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East constituency was estimated to be 5,200. This was out of a total 31,200 households in the constituency.
	As with any sample survey, estimates from the APS are subject to a margin of uncertainty. This is captured in a confidence interval, defined by lower and upper bounds, such as that the interval formed between the bounds would contain the true value for 95% of all possible samples.
	A workless household is defined as a household that contains at least one person aged 16 to 64 and where all individuals aged 16 and over are not in employment.

Work Programme

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to enable small providers to play a role in the Work Programme.

Chris Grayling: The Work Programme will provide a wide range of opportunities for partnership and collaboration between large and small providers. We anticipate that prime contractors will need to work with appropriate sub-contractors to ensure the individual needs of all customers are met, including those suffering from health conditions or disabilities.
	We are encouraging organisations of all sizes from the public, private and voluntary sectors to consider getting involved in the delivery of the Work Programme, and will work with framework providers later this year to help them build links with smaller local providers.
	We will also help safeguard sub-contractors by requiring prime contractors to meet the award winning Merlin standard, an independent accreditation of the arrangements between a prime contractor and their sub-contractors/partners.

Work Programme

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what mechanism his Department plans to establish to encourage consultation between successful Work Programme contractors and Jobcentre Plus.

Chris Grayling: All bidders will have access to detailed information about the areas covered by each Work Programme contract package as part of the Specification of Requirements. This will include all Jobcentre Plus services in the locality.
	Bidders will be invited to local events to meet representatives from Jobcentre Plus and other strategic partners. This will enable bidders to obtain detailed information about the labour market and about local priorities including the needs of employers and jobseekers, and to ensure that these are addressed in their tenders.
	After contracts have been awarded DWP will again facilitate contacts with successful bidders to ensure that Jobcentre Plus is fully conversant with their delivery models and fully engaged in working with providers in planning the implementation of the new service in each locality.

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Parliament's Education Service: Finance

Philip Davies: To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the House of Commons Commission how much was spent on the outreach programme in each financial year since it was established; and how much the House of Commons Commission expects to spend on the programme in 2010-11.

Stuart Bell: The Parliamentary Outreach service was set up following the Administration Committee's 2007 report Improving Facilities for Educational Visitors to Parliament (HC 434 2006-07), which included a recommendation to develop a parliamentary outreach service including regional outreach officers working throughout the UK. The service is being built up over three years, commencing with a pilot year in 2008-09, when the first of the regional outreach officers were appointed.
	Parliamentary Outreach is funded jointly with the House of Lords (70:30 split). Costs to the Commons are as follows:
	
		
			   £ 
			 2008-09 165,471 
			 2009-10 457,003 
			 2010-11 (1)575,000 
			 (1) Estimated expenditure 
		
	
	As part of the House-wide savings programme and subject to approval, it is anticipated that there will a reduction in the budget of the outreach programme in future years.

CABINET OFFICE

Citizens' Advice Bureaux

Ben Gummer: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what assessment he has made of the potential contribution of the Citizens Advice Bureau to meeting the objectives of his Big Society initiative.

Edward Davey: I have been asked to reply.
	The Government value highly the work of the independent charities which make up the Citizens Advice Service. It has both high public awareness and is a much trusted source of advice for people from all backgrounds. It equally values the feedback received from bureaux via case studies which helps to hold Government and others to account and is vital in helping to inform and shape future policy.
	The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) already supports the Citizens Advice Service through the provision of annual Grant-in-Aid to its umbrella bodies in England and Wales and in Scotland (Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland) which it does on behalf of all Government Departments and the Welsh and Scottish Governments. That funding enables both to provide business services to their customers-the national network of Citizens Advice Bureaux in England and Wales and Scotland-which enable them to provide front-line services to the public. Without these national business services (IT infrastructure and content, research, training, and standards), the bureaux would not be able to provide their services to the public.
	My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State also announced on 14 October, changes to the future competition and consumer landscape including proposals to transfer the functions of Consumer Focus and the Consumer Direct helpline, operated by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to the national bodies for the Citizens Advice service in England and Wales and in Scotland and most of the consumer-related research and advocacy functions, currently undertaken by OFT and Consumer Focus, to the Citizens Advice Service.
	http://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/consumer-issues
	BIS's proposal, on which it will consult publicly in the new year, would see the Citizens Advice Service, together with Trading Standards as the two groups at the centre of our plans for a better model for the future consumer landscape. This fits with both the Government's localism and Big Society agendas.

Civil Servants: Ethnic Groups and Disability

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what proportion of Civil Service staff was identified as  (a) being from black and ethnic minority backgrounds and  (b) disabled in (i) 2008-09, (ii) 2009-10 and (iii) 2010-11 on the latest date for which figures are available.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	 Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated November 2010:
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning the proportion of Civil Service staff identified as (a) being from black and ethnic minority backgrounds and (b) disabled in (i) 2008-09, (ii) 2009-10 and (iii) 2010-11 on the latest date for which figures are available. (24029)
	Civil Service Statistics are published annually by the Office for National Statistics on the National Statistics website.
	Statistics for 2010 will be published on 19 November 2010. The requested data for years 2008 and 2009 are attached at Annex A.
	
		
			  Annex A: Civil service employment; proportion of civil service staff declared as (a) black and/or minority ethnic (b) disabled( 1) -All employees 
			  Headcount 
			   2008( 2)  2009( 2) 
			 All employees 525,160 524,420 
			
			 All employees with known ethnic origin 415,750 411,370 
			 Black and/or minority ethnic 35,310 36,750 
			 Black and/or minority ethnic as percentage of known ethnic origin 8.5 8.9 
			
			 All employees with known disability status 375,490 378,650 
			 Disabled 24,620 26,800 
			 Disabled employees as percentage of known disability status 6.6 7.1 
			 (1) Numbers are rounded to the nearest 10. (2) Survey reference date 31 March.  Source: Annual Civil Service Employment Survey

Corruption: EU Law

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office by what mechanism companies are sanctioned for those foreign bribery-related offences which are monitored in relation to the enforcement of the European Procurement Directives.

Nick Hurd: UK Regulation 23 of the Public Contracts Regulation 2006 and regulation 26 of the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2006, which implement the respective European Procurement Directives 2004/18/EC and 2004/17/EC, state that a contracting authority having actual knowledge of an economic operator that has been convicted of the offence of bribery should be treated as ineligible and not be selected in the tendering procedure.

Corruption: EU Law

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office whether the implementation of the Bribery Act 2010 will require the amendment of regulations implementing the 2004 European Procurement Directives.

Nick Hurd: The criteria for the selection of economic operators laid down in the Public Contracts Regulations 2006 and the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2006 will need to be updated so as to refer to the new offences that are contained in the Bribery Act 2010.

Employment: Clwyd

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many people were in employment in Vale of Clwyd constituency in each year since 1997.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	 Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated November 2010:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many people were employed in Vale of Clwyd constituency in each year since 1997. (24234)
	The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles employment statistics for local areas from the Annual Population Survey (APS) following International Labour Organisation (ILO) definitions.
	The Vale of Clwyd parliamentary constituency changed to new boundaries at the 2010 general election. Figures for the current Vale of Clwyd parliamentary constituency are only available from 2004.
	Table 1 shows the number of persons in employment resident in the Vale of Clwyd parliamentary constituency for the 12 month periods ending in December from 2004 to 2009 from the APS, along with the latest estimate for the period ending March 2010.
	As with any sample survey, estimates from the APS are subject to a margin of uncertainty. A guide to the quality of the estimates is given in the table.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk
	
		
			  Table 1: Number of persons( 1)  in employment resident in the Vale of Clwyd parliamentary constituency 
			  12 month period  Thousand 
			 December 2004 30 
			 December 2005 32 
			 December 2006 29 
			 December 2007 30 
			 December 2008 30 
			 December 2009 31 
			 March 2010(2) *30 
			 (1) Persons aged 16 and over. (2) Coefficients of Variation have been calculated for the latest period as an indication of the quality of the estimates. as described below:  Guide to Quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of an estimate, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV-for example, for an estimate of 200 with a CV of 5% we would expect the population total to be within the range 180-220. CV = Coefficient of Variation  Key: * 0 = CV<5%-Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered precise ** 5 = CV <10%-Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered reasonably precise *** 10 = CV <20%-Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered acceptable **** CV ? 20%-Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposes  Source: Annual Population Survey

Jobseeker's Allowance: Tower Hamlets

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many people in  (a) Bethnal Green and Bow constituency and  (b) Tower Hamlets had been in receipt of jobseeker's allowance for more than a year in (i) 2008, (ii) 2009 and (iii) 2010.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
	 Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated November 2010:
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many people in (a) Bethnal Green and Bow constituency and (b) Tower Hamlets has been in receipt of jobseeker's allowance for more than a year in (i) 2008, (ii) 2009 and (iii) 2010. (24182)
	The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles the number of claimants of Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) from the Jobcentre Plus administrative system.
	Table 1 shows the number of persons resident in (a) Bethnal Green and Bow constituency and (b) Tower Hamlets who were claiming of JSA for more than a year in (i) 2008, (ii) 2009 and (iii) 2010. Data has been provided for September 2008, 2009 and 2010 as the latest data available is for the period September 2010.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at:
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk
	
		
			  Table 1: Number of persons claiming jobseeker's allowance for more than one year resident in Bethnal Green and Bow constituency and Tower Hamlets 
			  As at September:  Bethnal Green and Bow  Tower Hamlets 
			 2008 900 1,795 
			 2009 1,095 2,130 
			 2010 1,150 2,345 
			  Note: Data rounded to nearest 5.  Source: Jobcentre Plus administrative system

Local Government: Procurement

Phillip Lee: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will place in the Library a copy of guidance issued by the Office of Government Commerce to local authorities on tendering and small and medium-sized enterprises; and if he will make a statement.

Francis Maude: The Cabinet Office, through the Efficiency and Reform Group (ERG), provides a range of tools to promote best practice in public procurement that can be found on the OGC website:
	http://www.ogc.gov.uk/procurement_-_the_bigger_picture_policy_and_standards_framework.asp
	These tools are intended primarily for central Government Departments, including their agencies and non-departmental public bodies, but organisations in the wider public sector may also use them, and many choose to do so.
	The website includes specific materials to help public procurers take account of SMEs in procurement exercises.

Lone Parents: Females

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what proportion of lone parents in  (a) the North East and  (b) England are female.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	 Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated November 2010:
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your request to ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what percentage of lone parents in (a) the North East and (b) England are female (24476).
	The number and type of families in the UK can be estimated using the Annual Population Survey (APS). The latest data available are for 2009. Estimates are provided for lone parent families with at least one dependent child.
	In 2009, 92 per cent of lone parents with dependent children were female in both the North East and in England.

Older People

Louise Bagshawe: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what estimate he has made of the likely  (a) number and  (b) proportion of those aged over 85 years in each local authority area in 2020.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	 Letter from Stephen Penneck , dated November 2010:
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Minister for the Cabinet Office asking what estimate he has made of the likely  (a) number and  (b) proportion of those aged over 85 years in each local authority area in 2020 (23946)
	The most recent subnational population projections for England are based on the mid-year population estimates for 2008. The projected number and percentage of the population aged 86 and above for each local authority in England in 2020 is given in the attached table.
	
		
			  2008-Based s ubnational  p opulation  p rojections 
			  Table 1: Projected number and percentage of persons aged 86 and over in 2020 
			  Area name  Persons aged 86 and over (thousand)  Persons aged 86 and over (percentage) 
			 City of London 0.1 0.7 
			 Barking and Dagenham 3.0 1.6 
			 Barnet 9.1 2.4 
			 Bexley 5.6 2.3 
			 Brent 5.2 2.0 
			 Bromley 9.0 2.6 
			 Camden 2.7 1.0 
			 Croydon 7.1 1.9 
			 Ealing 5.4 1.6 
			 Enfield 6.2 2.0 
			 Greenwich 3.8 1.6 
			 Hackney 2.5 1.1 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 2.7 1.6 
			 Haringey 2.6 1.1 
			 Harrow 5.0 2.0 
			 Havering 6.6 2.6 
			 Hillingdon 5.2 1.8 
			 Hounslow 3.1 1.2 
			 Islington 2.0 1.0 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 5.3 2.8 
			 Kingston upon Thames 3.4 1.7 
			 Lambeth 3.1 1.0 
			 Lewisham 3.1 1.1 
			 Merton 3.9 1.7 
			 Newham 2.5 1.0 
			 Redbridge 4.9 1.6 
			 Richmond upon Thames 3.9 1.8 
			 Southwark 4.0 1.2 
			 Sutton 4.2 2.0 
			 Tower Hamlets 2.1 0.8 
			 Waltham Forest 3.0 1.3 
			 Wandsworth 4.3 1.4 
			 Westminster 4.5 1.5 
			 Bolton 5.4 2.0 
			 Bury 4.2 2.2 
			 Manchester 7.3 1.4 
			 Oldham 4.5 2.0 
			 Rochdale 4.3 2.1 
			 Salford 4.8 2.0 
			 Stockport 7.9 2.7 
			 Tameside 4.7 2.1 
			 Trafford 5.5 2.4 
			 Wigan 6.0 1.9 
			 Knowsley 3.2 2.1 
			 Liverpool 7.9 1.8 
			 St. Helens 3.7 2.1 
			 Sefton 8.7 3.2 
			 Wirral 9.3 3.1 
			 Barnsley 4.9 2.0 
			 Doncaster 7.0 2.3 
			 Rotherham 5.8 2.2 
			 Sheffield 12.4 2.1 
			 Gateshead 4.7 2.4 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne 6.7 2.3 
			 North Tyneside 5.2 2.4 
			 South Tyneside 4.3 2.7 
			 Sunderland 6.5 2.3 
			 Birmingham 20.6 1.9 
			 Coventry 7.0 2.1 
			 Dudley 8.1 2.5 
			 Sandwell 6.4 2.1 
			 Solihull 6.2 2.9 
			 Walsall 6.6 2.5 
			 Wolverhampton 6.4 2.6 
			 Bradford 10.6 1.8 
			 Calderdale 4.8 2.2 
			 Kirklees 8.9 2.0 
			 Leeds 17.7 2.0 
			 Wakefield 8.1 2.4 
			 Hartlepool UA 1.9 2.0 
			 Middlesbrough UA 3.5 2.4 
			 Redcar and Cleveland UA 3.7 2.6 
			 Stockton-on-Tees UA 4.6 2.3 
			 Darlington UA 2.8 2.7 
			 Halton UA 2.1 1.7 
			 Warrington UA 4.4 2.1 
			 Blackburn with Darwen UA 2.3 1.6 
			 Blackpool UA 3.6 2.5 
			 Kingston upon Hull; City of UA 5.0 1.7 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire UA 11.4 3.1 
			 North East Lincolnshire UA 4.2 2.6 
			 North Lincolnshire UA 4.6 2.6 
			 York UA 5.7 2.6 
			 Derby UA 6.3 2.3 
			 Leicester UA 5.1 1.5 
			 Rutland UA 1.5 3.5 
			 Nottingham UA 4.8 1.4 
			 Herefordshire; County of UA 6.7 3.6 
			 Telford and Wrekin UA 3.7 2.2 
			 Stoke-on-Trent UA 5.0 2.0 
			 Bath and North East Somerset UA 5.4 2.8 
			 Bristol; City of UA 8.6 1.7 
			 North Somerset UA 8.0 3.2 
			 South Gloucestershire UA 6.9 2.3 
			 Plymouth UA 6.6 2.3 
			 Torbay UA 6.2 4.3 
			 Bournemouth UA 6.5 3.8 
			 Poole UA 5.4 3.6 
			 Swindon UA 4.6 2.0 
			 Peterborough UA 3.5 1.8 
			 Luton UA 3.2 1.5 
			 Southend-on-Sea UA 5.4 3.0 
			 Thurrock UA 3.1 1.7 
			 Medway UA 4.8 1.8 
			 Bracknell Forest UA 2.4 1.9 
			 West Berkshire UA 3.8 2.3 
			 Reading UA 3.3 2.0 
			 Slough UA 2.3 1.6 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead UA 3.9 2.5 
			 Wokingham UA 4.2 2.3 
			 Milton Keynes UA 4.6 1.7 
			 Brighton and Hove UA 6.4 2.4 
			 Portsmouth UA 4.5 2.0 
			 Southampton UA 5.6 2.1 
			 Isle of Wight UA 6.0 3.9 
			 Mid Bedfordshire 2.8 1.9 
			 Bedford 4.4 2.6 
			 South Bedfordshire 3.0 2.3 
			 Aylesbury Vale 4.6 2.5 
			 Chiltern 3.2 3.3 
			 South Bucks 2.4 3.2 
			 Wycombe 4.5 2.7 
			 Cambridge 2.7 2.1 
			 East Cambridgeshire 2.6 2.7 
			 Fenland 3.4 3.2 
			 Huntingdonshire 4.3 2.4 
			 South Cambridgeshire 4.4 2.7 
			 Chester 3.6 3.1 
			 Congleton 3.0 3.1 
			 Crewe and Nantwich 3.2 2.5 
			 Ellesmere Port and Neston 2.1 2.7 
			 Macclesfield 5.5 3.5 
			 Vale Royal 3.6 2.6 
			 Caradon 3.0 3.2 
			 Carrick 3.9 3.9 
			 Kerrier 3.3 3.0 
			 North Cornwall 3.3 3.4 
			 Penwith 2.6 3.9 
			 Restormel 3.6 3.2 
			 Isles of Scilly 0.1 3.3 
			 Allerdale 2.9 3.0 
			 Barrow-in-Furness 1.9 2.6 
			 Carlisle 3.2 2.8 
			 Copeland 1.8 2.5 
			 Eden 1.8 3.4 
			 South Lakeland 4.3 4.0 
			 Amber Valley 3.7 2.9 
			 Bolsover 1.8 2.3 
			 Chesterfield 2.9 2.7 
			 Derbyshire Dales 2.6 3.6 
			 Erewash 3.1 2.7 
			 High Peak 3.0 3.0 
			 North East Derbyshire 2.8 2.8 
			 South Derbyshire 2.2 2.1 
			 East Devon 6.8 4.6 
			 Exeter 3.5 2.7 
			 Mid Devon 2.6 3.1 
			 North Devon 3.4 3.4 
			 South Hams 3.1 3.5 
			 Teignbridge 5.6 4.1 
			 Torridge 2.4 3.3 
			 West Devon 2.0 3.4 
			 Christchurch 2.4 4.7 
			 East Dorset 4.1 4.3 
			 North Dorset 2.4 3.5 
			 Purbeck 1.9 3.9 
			 West Dorset 5.0 4.9 
			 Weymouth and Portland 2.5 3.9 
			 Chester-le-Street 1.4 2.6 
			 Derwentside 2.4 2.5 
			 Durham 1.9 1.8 
			 Easington 2.3 2.3 
			 Sedgefield 2.2 2.4 
			 Teesdale 0.7 3.0 
			 Wear Valley 1.7 2.4 
			 Eastbourne 4.6 4.2 
			 Hastings 2.6 2.8 
			 Lewes 4.6 4.5 
			 Rother 4.8 4.9 
			 Wealden 5.9 3.9 
			 Basildon 4.4 2.2 
			 Braintree 4.4 2.7 
			 Brentwood 2.6 3.1 
			 Castle Point 3.1 3.3 
			 Chelmsford 4.3 2.3 
			 Colchester 4.6 2.2 
			 Epping Forest 3.7 2.8 
			 Harlow 2.0 2.4 
			 Maldon 2.0 2.8 
			 Rochford 2.6 2.9 
			 Tendring 7.6 4.5 
			 Uttlesford 2.3 2.8 
			 Cheltenham 3.9 3.2 
			 Cotswold 3.1 3.5 
			 Forest of Dean 2.6 3.0 
			 Gloucester 2.9 2.3 
			 Stroud 3.6 3.1 
			 Tewkesbury 2.8 3.2 
			 Basingstoke and Deane 3.6 2.0 
			 East Hampshire 3.8 3.2 
			 Eastleigh 3.2 2.4 
			 Fareham 4.5 3.8 
			 Gosport 2.5 2.8 
			 Hart 2.4 2.3 
			 Havant 4.6 3.8 
			 New Forest 8.6 4.5 
			 Rushmoor 2.5 2.5 
			 Test Valley 3.6 3.0 
			 Winchester 4.1 3.4 
			 Broxbourne 2.2 2.3 
			 Dacorum 4.0 2.7 
			 East Hertfordshire 3.9 2.7 
			 Hertsmere 3.2 3.0 
			 North Hertfordshire 4.1 3.0 
			 St Albans 3.5 2.3 
			 Stevenage 1.7 2.0 
			 Three Rivers 2.8 2.9 
			 Watford 1.8 1.9 
			 Welwyn Hatfield 3.1 2.3 
			 Ashford 3.6 2.8 
			 Canterbury 4.6 2.8 
			 Dartford 2.3 2.1 
			 Dover 3.8 3.4 
			 Gravesham 2.6 2.4 
			 Maidstone 4.3 2.6 
			 Sevenoaks 3.8 3.0 
			 Shepway 3.4 3.1 
			 Swale 3.0 2.1 
			 Thanet 4.4 3.1 
			 Tonbridge and Malling 3.2 2.4 
			 Tunbridge Wells 3.4 3.0 
			 Burnley 2.2 2.6 
			 Chorley 2.5 2.2 
			 Fylde 3.1 4.0 
			 Hyndburn 1.8 2.2 
			 Lancaster 4.0 2.7 
			 Pendle 2.2 2.4 
			 Preston 2.5 1.8 
			 Ribble Valley 1.7 2.8 
			 Rossendale 1.4 2.0 
			 South Ribble 2.7 2.4 
			 West Lancashire 2.9 2.6 
			 Wyre 3.9 3.3 
			 Blaby 2.8 2.8 
			 Charnwood 4.3 2.4 
			 Harborough 2.7 2.9 
			 Hinckley and Bosworth 2.9 2.5 
			 Melton 1.4 2.8 
			 North West Leicestershire 2.4 2.5 
			 Oadby and Wigston 1.9 3.0 
			 Boston 1.9 2.9 
			 East Lindsey 5.5 3.5 
			 Lincoln 2.5 2.8 
			 North Kesteven 3.4 2.9 
			 South Holland 3.3 3.5 
			 South Kesteven 4.1 2.9 
			 West Lindsey 2.9 2.9 
			 Breckland 5.0 3.5 
			 Broadland 4.5 3.3 
			 Great Yarmouth 3.2 3.0 
			 King's Lynn and West Norfolk 5.3 3.4 
			 North Norfolk 5.3 4.7 
			 Norwich 3.7 2.3 
			 South Norfolk 4.1 3.1 
			 Corby 1.1 1.8 
			 Daventry 1.9 2.2 
			 East Northamptonshire 2.4 2.5 
			 Kettering 2.3 2.3 
			 Northampton 4.8 2.0 
			 South Northamptonshire 2.2 2.2 
			 Wellingborough 1.7 2.1 
			 Alnwick 1.1 3.0 
			 Berwick-upon-Tweed 1.4 5.1 
			 Blyth Valley 1.8 2.2 
			 Castle Morpeth 1.6 3.1 
			 Tynedale 2.1 3.5 
			 Wansbeck 1.7 2.6 
			 Craven 2.3 3.9 
			 Hambleton 2.9 3.2 
			 Harrogate 5.8 3.5 
			 Richmondshire 1.5 2.6 
			 Ryedale 1.9 3.4 
			 Scarborough 3.9 3.4 
			 Selby 2.0 2.2 
			 Ashfield 2.8 2.3 
			 Bassetlaw 3.2 2.7 
			 Broxtowe 2.9 2.4 
			 Gedling 3.4 2.8 
			 Mansfield 2.7 2.6 
			 Newark and Sherwood 3.3 2.7 
			 Rushcliffe 3.5 2.9 
			 Cherwell 3.7 2.5 
			 Oxford 2.9 1.9 
			 South Oxfordshire 4.0 2.9 
			 Vale of White Horse 3.7 3.0 
			 West Oxfordshire 3.9 3.4 
			 Bridgnorth 1.9 3.5 
			 North Shropshire 2.2 3.4 
			 Oswestry 1.4 3.0 
			 Shrewsbury and Atcham 3.3 3.4 
			 South Shropshire 1.9 4.1 
			 Mendip 3.8 3.3 
			 Sedgemoor 3.8 3.1 
			 South Somerset 6.0 3.5 
			 Taunton Deane 4.4 3.7 
			 West Somerset 2.1 5.7 
			 Cannock Chase 2.0 2.1 
			 East Staffordshire 3.1 2.7 
			 Lichfield 3.0 2.8 
			 Newcastle-under-Lyme 3.5 2.7 
			 South Staffordshire 3.6 3.4 
			 Stafford 3.9 2.9 
			 Staffordshire Moorlands 3.0 3.0 
			 Tamworth 1.6 2.0 
			 Babergh 3.4 3.7 
			 Forest Heath 1.5 2.1 
			 Ipswich 3.2 2.2 
			 Mid Suffolk 3.2 2.9 
			 St Edmundsbury 3.3 3.0 
			 Suffolk Coastal 5.1 3.5 
			 Waveney 4.8 3.7 
			 Elmbridge 4.3 3.0 
			 Epsom and Ewell 2.1 2.6 
			 Guildford 3.6 2.5 
			 Mole Valley 3.0 3.3 
			 Reigate and Banstead 4.3 2.8 
			 Runnymede 2.6 2.9 
			 Spelthorne 2.8 2.9 
			 Surrey Heath 2.3 2.6 
			 Tandridge 3.1 3.5 
			 Waverley 4.6 3.7 
			 Woking 2.6 2.6 
			 North Warwickshire 1.6 2.5 
			 Nuneaton and Bedworth 2.9 2.3 
			 Rugby 2.7 2.6 
			 Stratford-on-Avon 4.3 3.3 
			 Warwick 4.1 2.6 
			 Adur 2.0 3.1 
			 Arun 7.6 4.6 
			 Chichester 4.7 3.8 
			 Crawley 3.1 2.6 
			 Horsham 4.6 3.3 
			 Mid Sussex 4.4 3.1 
			 Worthing 4.3 3.8 
			 Kennet 2.3 2.8 
			 North Wiltshire 3.7 2.5 
			 Salisbury 4.2 3.5 
			 West Wiltshire 4.7 3.3 
			 Bromsgrove 3.5 3.5 
			 Malvern Hills 3.4 4.3 
			 Redditch 1.7 2.1 
			 Worcester 2.2 2.3 
			 Wychavon 3.9 3.2 
			 Wyre Forest 3.2 3.1 
			  Notes: The subnational population projections are demographic trend based projections that indicate what the population of an area is likely to be if recently observed trends in fertility, mortality and migration were to continue. They take no account of future policies or developments which may affect trends. For details about the methodology used to produce the 2008-based subnational population projections please see the Methodology Guide at the following web page: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_population/snpp-2008/2008_based_SNPP_Methodology_Guide.pdf For further information regarding methodology please email: snpp@ons.gov.uk The data are Crown Copyright. They may be reproduced freely within your organisation, but they must not be used for commercial use. For further information please see Subnational Population Projections Terms and Conditions of Use. Commercial use licences can be obtained from ONS - please email: snpp@ons.gov.uk  Source: Population Projections Unit, ONS: Crown Copyright. Office for National Statistics

Older People: Females

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what proportion of people over 50 years old resident in  (a) Newcastle upon Tyne North constituency,  (b) the north-east and  (c) England are female.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	 Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated November 2010:
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your question asking what percentage of people over 50 years resident in (a) Newcastle Upon Tyne North Constituency, (b) the north-east and (c) England are female (24472).
	The table below shows the number of females aged over 50 years as a percentage of the total population aged over 50 years, for the latest year for which data are available.
	
		
			  Percentage 
			   Mid-2007  Mid-2009 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne North 55.0 (1)- 
			 North East 53.7 53.4 
			 England 53.6 53.4 
			 (1) Data not available.  Source: Office for National Statistics.

Public Sector: Procurement

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what steps he plans to take to encourage public bodies to observe the 2009 guidance of the Office of Government Commerce, Promoting skills through public procurement, as part of their procurement procedures.

Francis Maude: The primary purpose of Government procurement is to buy goods and services the Government need, at the best combination of quality and whole-life costs to obtain the best value for money.
	Departments are free to build skills and apprenticeships requirements into their procurement exercises, where relevant and consistent with Government procurement policy and EU treaty principles of openness, non-discrimination and proportionality. Decisions on the inclusion of such requirements have to be taken on a case-by-case basis, driven by the imperative of optimising value for money.

Unemployment: Wales

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many people were unemployed in each constituency in Wales in each month since January 2010.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	 Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated November 2010:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many people were unemployed in each constituency in Wales in each month since January 2010. (24236)
	The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles unemployment statistics in line with International Labour Organisation (ILO) definitions for local areas from the Annual Population Survey (APS). Unfortunately the sample size does not support analyses of unemployment for the requested geography.
	As an alternative, in Table 1, we have provided the number of persons resident in each constituency in Wales claiming Jobseeker's Allowance since January 2010. Data has been provided for January 2010 to the latest period September 2010.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at:
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk
	
		
			  Table 1:  Persons claiming jobseeker's allowance resident in each constituency in Wales 
			  Number 
			  Parliamentary constituency  January 2010  February 2010  March 2010  April 2010  May 2010  June 2010  July 2010  August 2010  September 2010 
			 Aberavon 1,833 1,833 1,722 1,688 1,596 1,537 1,528 1,510 1,496 
			 Aberconwy 1,290 1,341 1,302 1,145 1,072 1,018 1,019 1,027 979 
			 Alyn and Deeside 1,910 1,956 1,963 1,870 1,734 1,646 1,676 1,688 1,661 
			 Arfon 1,556 1,592 1,516 1,469 1,402 1,348 1,360 1,336 1,229 
			 Blaenau Gwent 3,475 3,419 3,246 3,202 2,991 2,850 2,849 2,891 2,838 
			 Brecon and Radnorshire 1,162 1,155 1,095 1,041 975 921 916 937 911 
			 Bridgend 1,927 1,982 1,824 1,798 1,672 1,593 1,653 1,735 1,684 
			 Caerphilly 2,976 2,977 2,879 2,840 2,668 2,560 2,521 2,571 2,525 
			 Cardiff Central 2,374 2,430 2,413 2,384 2,305 2,170 2,296 2,362 2,375 
			 Cardiff North 1,489 1,498 1,433 1,469 1,416 1,331 1,347 1,410 1,414 
			 Cardiff South and Penarth 3,496 3,586 3,592 3,513 3,473 3,325 3,296 3,354 3,310 
			 Cardiff West 2,842 2,883 2,810 2,736 2,638 2,519 2,514 2,595 2,628 
			 Carmarthen East and Dinefwr 1,186 1,172 1,149 1,079 971 930 939 1,007 1,029 
			 Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire 1,662 1,605 1,482 1,333 1,270 1,268 1,251 1,272 1,257 
			 Ceredigion 1,028 1,040 968 890 822 791 824 799 818 
			 Clwyd South 1,911 1,915 1,849 1,770 1,608 1,491 1,494 1,519 1,512 
			 Clwyd West 1,761 1,759 1,699 1,591 1,512 1,457 1,451 1,445 1,421 
			 Cynon Valley 2,413 2,362 2,297 2,209 2,058 1,959 1,978 2,059 2,049 
			 Delyn 1,714 1,750 1,721 1,644 1,534 1,407 1,461 1,454 1,380 
			 Dwyfor Meirionnydd 1,156 1,120 1,002 849 748 696 687 710 687 
			 Gower 1,430 1,452 1,403 1,336 1,207 1,124 1,148 1,157 1,131 
			 Islwyn 2,455 2,420 2,320 2,222 2,074 1,964 1,931 1,929 1,935 
			 Llanelli 2,091 2,134 2,065 2,014 1,940 1,840 1,853 1,884 1,870 
			 Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney 3,310 3,212 3,081 3,029 2,874 2,791 2,808 2,838 2,803 
			 Monmouth 1,501 1,507 1,455 1,362 1,241 1,174 1,208 1,231 1,179 
			 Montgomeryshire 946 940 884 835 756 673 681 729 730 
			 Neath 1,885 1,884 1,842 1,809 1,703 1,581 1,595 1,622 1,578 
			 Newport East 2,570 2,605 2,559 2,495 2,094 1,968 1,973 1,954 1,950 
			 Newport West 2,710 2,759 2,695 2,624 2,571 2,423 2,409 2,399 2,335 
			 Ogmore 2,358 2,275 2,193 2,108 1,989 1,878 1,839 1,938 1,894 
			 Pontypridd 1,992 1,920 1,870 1,849 1,666 1,564 1,556 1,611 1,545 
			 Preseli Pembrokeshire 1,544 1,521 1,315 1,236 1,342 1,380 1,400 1,439 1,451 
			 Rhondda 2,778 2,739 2,577 2,461 2,226 2,126 2,196 2,250 2,294 
			 Swansea East 2,398 2,366 2,344 2,306 2,181 2,091 2,081 2,122 2,032 
			 Swansea West 2,147 2,075 2,090 2,014 1,909 1,863 1,860 1,953 1,875 
			 Torfaen 2,810 2,702 2,584 2,513 2,343 2,210 2,164 2,265 2,220 
			 Vale of Clwyd 2,242 2,229 2,130 1,963 1,836 1,748 1,732 1,764 1,795 
			 Vale of Glamorgan 2,726 2,766 2,727 2,660 2,516 2,329 2,317 2,370 2,398 
			 Wrexham 1,976 1,963 1,921 1,867 1,740 1,627 1,619 1,676 1,654 
			 Ynys Mon 2,144 2,142 2,075 1,934 1,893 1,791 1,780 1,741 1,715 
			 Total 83,174 82,986 80,092 77,157 72,566 68,962 69,210 70,553 69,587 
			  Source: Jobcentre Plus administrative system.

JUSTICE

Conditional Fee Agreement

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of implementing the proposed transition from the conditional fee agreement scheme to the proposed contingency fees scheme;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the likely effect on the number of claims of the implementation of his proposal for a contingency fees scheme;
	(3)  what research his Department has  (a) commissioned and  (b) evaluated on the likely effects on the level of fairness in respect of access to the justice system of the implementation of his proposal for the replacement of conditional fee agreements with a contingency fees scheme;
	(4)  what estimate he has made of the average annual saving to the Exchequer consequent on the implementation of his proposals to end conditional fee agreements;
	(5)  what estimate he has made of the net effect on Exchequer revenue, taking into account the estimated change in the number of litigation actions against the Government, of the proposed replacement of conditional fee agreements with a contingency fees scheme in each of the first five years of the operation of that proposed scheme.

Jonathan Djanogly: As my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor informed the House on 15 November  Official Report, columns 659-72, the Government have now published the consultation paper, 'Proposals for Reform of Civil Litigation Funding and Costs: Implementation of Lord Justice Jackson's Recommendations'. This includes proposals relating to the reform of conditional fee agreements (CFAs) and damages-based agreements (DBAs) or contingency fees. I should make it clear that Sir Rupert Jackson did not recommend replacing CFAs with contingency fees or DBAs. Rather he suggested that CFAs should be reformed and that DBAs should be permitted in litigation as an additional funding mechanism. That is what we are consulting on.
	The intention is to increase the choice of funding options available to claimants to pursue necessary claims. Sir Rupert is of the view that implementing his proposals, particularly those on the reform of CFAs, would deliver significant costs savings including for Government. The consultation paper and preliminary impact assessments are available on the Ministry of Justice website:
	www.justice.gov.uk
	We are seeking further data from those responding to the consultation.

Departmental Lobbying

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department's agencies and non-departmental public bodies spent from the public purse on influencing public policy through  (a) employing external (i) public affairs companies, (ii) strategic consultancies and (iii) corporate communications firms,  (b) external marketing and  (c) other activities in each year since its inception.

Kenneth Clarke: The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) does not centrally collate data on expenditure on influencing public policy. It would incur disproportionate costs to examine every transaction made relating to public affairs companies, strategic consultancies, corporate communications firms and external marketing.
	It is though possible to provide information relating to the MoJ, its agencies and NDPBs' total expenditure on consultants since 2007, and the MoJ and its agencies' expenditure on external marketing since 2008.
	The total expenditure on consultants for the MoJ, its agencies and NDPBs (rounded to the nearest million pounds) was:
	
		
			   £ 
			 2007-08 61,000,000 
			 2008-09 53,000,000 
			 2009-10 42,000,000 
		
	
	The MoJ's definition for consultancy is:
	"Professional services provided by, for example, lawyers, surveyors and architects and the employment of specialists on an interim basis to deliver project solutions, providing expertise for a defined period of time that is not available in-house."
	For external marketing, the expenditure provided is for the MoJ and its agencies but not the NDPBs. Many NDPBs; including but not limited to the Legal Services Board, the Information Commissioner's Office and the Legal Ombudsman, do not spend any of their budgets on external marketing or informing public policy. Other NDPBs do not record their external marketing expenditure separately from their total communications spend. It would incur disproportionate cost to indentify external marketing expenditure for the NDPBs.
	I have provided the information for 2008-09 and 2009-10. Due to changes in the MoJ's organisational structure it would not be possible to indentify the external marketing expenditure for 2007-08 without incurring disproportionate cost.
	The total expenditure on external marketing for MOJ and its agencies (rounded to the nearest million pounds) was:
	
		
			   £ 
			 2008-09 4,000,000 
			 2009-10 5,000,000

Magistrates Courts: Sentencing

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many cases have been brought before each magistrates court in each of the last two years; and how many of those cases resulted in a custodial sentence.

Crispin Blunt: I am placing in the House Library the information requested on how many cases brought before each local justice area in each of the last two years (2008 and 2009 latest available); and how many resulted in a custodial sentence. The tables include defendants proceeded against, found guilty, sentenced and a sentence breakdown, including those given a custodial sentence.
	The lowest level at which sentencing data are collected is at local justice area. local justice areas are used to determine which magistrates courts may hear a particular case.

Prisoners: Self-Harm

Helen Grant: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many incidents of self-harm were recorded amongst  (a) male and  (b) female prisoners in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Crispin Blunt: The information requested is in the following table:
	
		
			  2009 
			   Number 
			  Self-harm incidents  
			 Male and Female 24,114 
			 Male 13,688 
			 Female 10,426 
			   
			  Individuals self-harming( 1)  
			 Male and Female 6,977 
			 Male 5,403 
			 Female 1,574 
			 (1) The numbers of different individuals are based on prison numbers. An individual who was in prison custody on two occasions during a year but with two different numbers would be counted twice if he/she had self harmed at least once each time.  Data Sources and Quality: These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems. Care is taken when processing and analysing the returns but the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Although the figures are shown to the last individual the figures may not be accurate to that level. 
		
	
	NOMS has a broad, integrated and evidence-based prisoner suicide prevention and self harm management strategy that seeks to reduce the distress of all those in prison. This encompasses a wide spectrum of Prison and Department of Health work around such issues as mental health, substance misuse and resettlement. Any prisoner identified as at risk of suicide or self-harm is cared for using the assessment, care in custody and teamwork (ACCT) procedures.

Prisoners: Taxation

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what discussions he has had with HM Revenue and Customs on the taxation of the earnings of prisoners who undertake paid work in prison.

Crispin Blunt: I have not had any discussions with HM Revenue and Customs on this matter. The average earnings of prisoners undertaking paid work in prison are £9.60 per week.

Prisons

Helen Grant: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of children in  (a) England and Wales,  (b) London and  (c) the south-east have at least one parent in prison.

Crispin Blunt: The Ministry of Justice does not hold data on the proportion of children in  (a) England and Wales,  (b) London and  (c) the south-east who have at least one parent in prison. However, according to a self-report survey of 1,435 adult prisoners sentenced to between one month and four years in England and Wales in 2005-06, 54% of prisoners had children under the age of 18 at the time of imprisonment.

Prisons: Crimes of Violence

Helen Grant: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many incidents of attacks on  (a) prison staff and  (b) prisoners were recorded in prisons where the victim (i) was and (ii) was not hospitalised in each of the last 10 years;
	(2)  how many incidents of attacks on  (a) prison staff and  (b) prisoners were recorded in prisons where (i) a weapon and (ii) no weapon was used in each of the last 10 years.

Crispin Blunt: The information requested is set out in the following tables.
	
		
			  Recorded prisoner-on-staff and prisoner-on-prisoner assaults by hospitalisation: 2000-09 
			   2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009 
			 Actual assaults requiring hospital visit 148 143 156 196 235 263 235 211 237 196 
			 Prisoner on staff: hospital visit(1) 24 27 19 35 50 43 43 37 39 40 
			 Prisoner on staff: No hospital visit 2,168 2,673 2,832 2,858 3,154 3,459 3,487 3,236 3,172 2,833 
			 Total assaults on staff 2,192 2,700 2,851 2,893 3,204 3,502 3,530 3,273 3,211 2,873 
			
			 Prisoner-on-prisoner: hospital visit(1) 123 118 138 166 187 225 198 173 203 159 
			 Prisoner-on-prisoner: No hospital visit 7,087 7,862 8,604 8,837 9,280 10,667 11,332 11,845 12,631 11,988 
			 Total assaults prisoner-on-prisoner assaults 7,210 7,980 8,742 9,003 9,467 10,892 11,530 12,018 12,834 12,147 
		
	
	
		
			  Recorded prisoner-on-staff and prisoner-on-prisoner assaults by weapon-use: 2000-09 
			   2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009 
			 Actual assaults where weapon was use 1,111 1,093 1,178 1,529 1,380 1,637 1,686 1,786 1,732 1,599 
			 Prisoner on staff: Weapon used(2) 325 317 308 456 391 449 460 433 434 371 
			 Prisoner on staff: No weapon used 1,867 2,383 2,543 2,437 2,813 3,053 3,070 2,840 2,777 2,502 
			 Total assaults on staff 2,192 2,700 2,851 2,893 3,204 3,502 3,530 3,273 3,211 2,873 
			
			 Prisoner-on-prisoner: Weapon used(2) 797 790 890 1,091 1,003 1,189 1,229 1,368 1,326 1,206 
			 Prisoner-on-prisoner: No weapon used 6,413 7,190 7,852 7,912 8,464 9,703 10,301 10,650 1,508 10,941 
			 Total assaults prisoner-on-prisoner assaults 7,210 7,980 8,742 9,003 9,467 10,892 11,530 12,018 12,834 12,147 
			 (1) The hospital attendances in this table refer to those arising immediately from assault incidents. They do NOT include other types of hospital attendance such as A and E or overnight visits nor do they include any subsequent hospital visits that may be required to continue treatment. (2) The majority of assault incidents do not involve weapons. Of those that do most involve items that may be found to hand. Relatively few involve an actually designed for purpose weapon.  Note: Numbers of assaults requiring hospital and the numbers involving weapons, in these tables will exceed the actual numbers (in the 2nd rows). This is due to double counting in the assault classifications.

Prisons: Drugs

Helen Grant: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he is taking to reduce the incidence of  (a) drug and  (b) mobile telephone smuggling in prisons.

Crispin Blunt: Prisons deploy a robust and comprehensive range of security measures to reduce drug supply. These include the use of drug detection dogs, close working with the police, CCTV, use of more effective intelligence systems and mandatory drug testing.
	NOMS has implemented a strategy to 'minimise' the number of mobile phones entering prisons, to 'find' phones that do get in and to 'disrupt' mobile phones that cannot be found.
	Drug misuse in prisons, as measured by random mandatory drug testing, has declined by 68% since 1996-97.

Prisons: Drugs

Helen Grant: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what monetary value of drugs of each class was seized on the prison estate in each of the last five years.

Crispin Blunt: The market value of drugs varies widely between regions and over periods of time. Information on the value of drugs seized in prisons is not routinely available.

Prisons: Young People

Helen Grant: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many young adults entered the prison system for the first time in each of the last three years.

Crispin Blunt: The table shows figures for offenders receiving their first immediate custodial sentence at the age of 18 to 20, as recorded on the police national computer. These figures are derived from table 6.3 of "Sentencing Statistics: England and Wales 2009" which was published on 21 October 2010.
	
		
			  Offenders aged 18-20 receiving an immediate custodial sentence for an indictable offence, with no previous custodial sentences, 2007 to 2009, England and Wales 
			   Number of offenders aged 18-20 sentenced to immediate custody  Number of offenders aged 18-20 receiving their first immediate custodial sentence 
			 2007 12,601 5,949 
			 2008 12,524 5,791 
			 2009 12,108 5,705 
		
	
	The figures have been drawn from the police's administrative IT system, the police national computer, which, as with any large-scale recording system, is subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. The figures are provisional and subject to change as more information is recorded by the police.

Rape: Victim Support Schemes

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 18 October 2010,  Official Report, column 541W, on rape: victim support schemes, what funding will be available for  (a) existing and  (b) new rape crisis centres in the comprehensive spending review period.

Crispin Blunt: The commitment to provide long-term, sustainable funding to existing rape crisis centres and to establish new centres where need is most acute remains a priority for the Government.
	Following the conclusion of the comprehensive spending review and the allocation of the departmental settlement, work is ongoing within the Ministry of Justice to finalise budgets, including funds allocated to the rape crisis commitment.
	An announcement on how we will implement the commitment will be made in the new year.

Reoffenders: Public Expenditure

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he made of the likely effects of the outcomes of the comprehensive spending review on reoffending rates.

Crispin Blunt: The Government believe that by introducing more effective sentencing policies and rehabilitative services we can deliver greater reductions in reoffending, deter future crime and protect the public. We will publish our proposals for a new approach to sentencing and rehabilitation, and how we will deliver more for less, in a Green Paper to be published in December. The Green Paper will be open to public consultation. We are conducting a full impact assessment of these proposals.

Young Offender Institutions: Public Expenditure

Helen Grant: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average cost to the public purse was of detaining an offender in a young offender's institution in the last three years for which figures are available.

Crispin Blunt: Tables 1 to 3 provides the average cost per place in a young offender's institution (YOI) for young people aged 15 to 18. These figures are for the last three financial years.
	The figures provided are not intended to represent the total cost of providing custody and related services to young people. The calculation is based upon allocated budget funding at the beginning of the relevant financial years, rather than actual expenditure at the close of those years.
	While the methodology for calculating costs are the same for 2010-11 and 2009-10, it differs for 2008-09 and therefore caution should be taken when directly comparing the costs for 2008-09 with subsequent years.
	Where-due to changes in commissioning and budgetary responsibilities across Government and agencies-the costs include different funding streams, the notes on the bottom of each table detail this.
	The figures provided have been rounded to the nearest £1,000.
	
		
			  Table 1 
			  Secure estate sector  Average cost to the YJB per place per year as at 1 April 2010 (£) 
			 YOI (including private) 59,000 
			  Notes: 1. These are costs to the Youth Justice Board (YJB) as at 1 April 2010. They are not intended to represent the total cost of providing custody and related services to young people-specific exclusions follow. 2. Differences in the YJB funding streams included for these 2010-11 costs from the costs published for 1 April 2009 (2009-10 costs) are that: The YJB no longer funds education in public YOIs (see note 6); YJB funding for Advocacy Services is included (see note 4); YJB funding for services provided by the Lucy Faithfull Foundation is included (see note 6). 3. These figures do not include VAT on Private YOI places. 4. Advocacy Services funded by the YJB are included in YOI costs. 5. These costs do not include YJB funding to National Offender Management Service (NOMS) prisoner escort management (PEM) for the provision of prison escort and custodial services (PECS) for young people. 6. For the YOI cost: As of 1 April 2010, the YJB is no longer responsible for the budget for education funding and so this cost is not included in the above; The YJB is not responsible for health funding budgets-except where specific services are commissioned (i.e. at the Keppel Unit)-and so the cost of health services in not included in the above; For public YOIs, NOMS estimated that central overhead costs (excluding those for the Young People's Team) apportionable to the YJB at £7.601 million; the cost above uses the actual funding received from MOJ for these overheads of £5.070 million. For public YOIs, the NOMS business rates, maintenance charges, capital charges and overheads for these charges have been estimated based upon 2009-10 levels and inflated; YJB funding for the Lucy Faithfull Foundation is included. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2 
			  Secure estate sector  Average price per place per year as at 1 April 2009 (£) 
			 YOI (including private) 60,000 
			  Notes: 1. These figures do not include VAT on private YOI places. 2. The education costs paid to the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) is the agreed funding amount as at 1 April 2009 and is included. (The contracts were refreshed from August 2009). 3. Contributions to primary care trusts (PCTs) are at 2008-09 rates (no uplift has been applied to these) and is included. 4. The NOMS business rates, maintenance and capital charge elements of the public YOI costs have been included for 2009-10. 5. JASP (Juvenile Awareness Staff Programme) funding is included. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 3 
			  Secure estate sector  Average price per place per year as at 1 April 2008 (£) 
			 YOI (not including private) 59,000 
			  Notes: 1. This figure is based upon YJB funding for Prison Service (public) YOI places-it does not include private YOI places commissioned at HMYOIs Ashfield and Parc. 2. The NOMS capital charges and business rates are included, but not maintenance charges. 3. The YJB contribution to PCT funding for health care is included. 4. The YJB contribution towards LSC funding for education is included.

HEALTH

Atos Healthcare

James Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the reasons were for the cancellation of contracts between his Department and Atos Healthcare in the last five years.

Paul Burstow: The Department engaged Atos Healthcare as its provider of Occupational Health Services from October 2006 to June 2010.
	The period of Atos' contract ended, as planned, and the Department's Occupational Health provision was re-tendered through a full competitive Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) procurement exercise.

Breast Cancer

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what further steps he plans to take to reduce mortality from breast cancer; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Burstow: Steps to reduce mortality from breast cancer will be taken through our public health strategy, cancer drugs fund and refreshed cancer reform strategy.
	Lifestyle behaviours such as smoking, the harmful use of alcohol, drug misuse, poor diet and nutrition, being overweight and physical inactivity are acknowledged risk factors for a number of chronic diseases, including breast cancer. Later this year, we will publish a public health White Paper setting out details of our strategy for improving public health and reducing the risk factors associated with developing conditions such as breast cancer.
	Diagnosing cancer earlier is also important in reducing mortality. Experts estimate that the NHS breast screening programme saves 1,400 lives per year by diagnosing cancer earlier. The Cancer Reform Strategy (CRS) included the commitment that the NHS breast screening programme would be extended to women aged 47 to 73. In June this year, we confirmed in the "Revision to the NHS Operating Framework 2010-11" that all local breast screening programmes should begin the extension in 2010-11 ensuring that more women have the opportunity to benefit from the screening service.
	In September, as part of the national awareness and early diagnosis initiative, we announced that £9 million would be provided to support 59 campaigns that will work to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of breast, bowel and lung cancers and to encourage early presentation at a general practitioner surgery.
	Through the Cancer Drugs Fund, we will give cancer patients better access to the drugs that their clinicians believe will help them, and on 1 October, we allocated £50 million to the NHS to enable cancer patients to access appropriate drugs now. Following the spending review, we have committed £200 million per year for the drugs fund for the next three years, and are consulting on proposals for establishment of the fund.
	We are also undertaking a review of the CRS to ensure that we have the right strategy to deliver improved outcomes for cancer patients including survival and mortality. We plan to publish the report later this winter.

Cancer: Health Services

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what his most recent estimate is of the cost to the public purse of an emergency hospital admission for a patient whose primary diagnosis is haematological cancer;
	(2)  what his most recent estimate is of the cost to the public purse of an emergency admission to hospital in each NHS trust area of a patient whose primary diagnosis is haematological cancer;
	(3)  what his most recent estimate is of the average length of hospital stay for an emergency admission of a patient whose primary diagnosis is haematological cancer.

Paul Burstow: For 2008-09, the average length of hospital stay for an emergency admission of a patient whose primary diagnosis was haematological cancer was 10.7 days. This is the latest period for which statistics are available.
	Information on the average cost to the public purse of an emergency admission for a patient whose primary diagnosis is haematological cancer cannot be provided at national or trust level because the Department does not collect costs to the public purse by primary diagnosis.
	The Department collects the costs to national health service providers of providing standard groupings of clinically similar treatments, known as healthcare resource groups (HRGs). Information on the estimated costs, at both national and trust level, of a non-elective admission for the HRGs that represent haematological procedures and disorders in 2008-09 has been placed in the Library. This does not include the costs of chemotherapy, which cannot be separately identified by primary diagnosis.

Childbirth

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many births he expects there to be in NHS facilities in each of the next five years; and what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of such births which will require specialist care.

Anne Milton: Information is not available in the format requested. Maternity services are planned at a local level, rather than national level, to ensure they are responsive to local need.
	In 2009 there were 663,490 maternity episodes in England of which 641,832 (approximately 96.7%) were births in national health service hospitals. In 2009, there were 43,786 admissions into neonatal care, which amounts to some 7% of the total number of births in NHS hospitals.

Circumcision

Andrea Leadsom: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reasons the NHS funds non-medical circumcisions; and if he will issue guidance to healthcare commissioners on the priority to be accorded to such procedures.

Paul Burstow: The national health service normally only performs circumcision where medically indicated. However, a primary care trust has a duty to protect the health of the public in their area and may decide to ensure that a safe and affordable male circumcision service is available in other circumstances, where there are concerns about harm to patients. There are currently no plans for the Secretary of State to issue guidance to health care commissioners on male circumcision.

Dementia

Hazel Blears: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reasons his Department's estimated expenditure on dementia research declined from 2.9 per cent. in 2007-08 to 1.4 per cent. in 2009-10 of expenditure from the research and development revenue budget.

Paul Burstow: The figures show a decline in dementia research funding which reflects a more transparent and accurate method for assessing disease-specific research and development (R and D) spend.
	Prior to the establishment of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) in April 2006, the main part of the Department's total health expenditure was devolved to and managed by national health service organisations. From April 2006 to March 2009, transitional research funding was allocated to these organisations at reducing levels. At the same time, an increasing amount of NHS research funding was awarded competitively through new NIHR programmes and schemes.
	The NHS organisations reported on their use of these allocations in annual R and D reports, and each report included a figure of research spend on degenerative neurological disorders. These figures have been included in the Department's estimates of total annual spend on dementia research up to 2008-09.

Departmental Manpower

David Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many members of staff were employed in the ministerial correspondence unit of his Department in each of the last two years.

Anne Milton: The customer service centre uses a significant proportion of non-permanent workers within the correspondence teams in order to maintain maximum flexibility to meet the Department's targets for responding to correspondence. Therefore, the number of staff in post at any one time fluctuates on a daily basis.
	At 1 April 2009 there were 56.7 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff in post working in the customer service centre correspondence unit of which 32.2 were permanent FTE staff and 24.5 were agency staff filling FTE posts.
	At 1 April 2010, there were 57.94 full-time equivalent staff in post of which 33.74 were permanent FTE staff and 24.2 were agency staff filling FTE posts. The correspondence unit processes, on average, 86,000 pieces of correspondence per year.

Departmental Official Hospitality

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how much his Department spent on hospitality for events hosted by each of its Ministers in  (a) September and  (b) October 2010;
	(2)  what estimate his Department has made of its expenditure on travel undertaken by  (a) him and  (b) each other Minister in his Department in (i) September and (ii) October 2010.

Anne Milton: The information held on the Department's business management system is as shown in the following table. Due to retrospective billing by the Government Car Service, and the procedures employed by the Department which score expenditure on the system in the month in which an invoice is processed and paid, the figures do not necessarily relate to the costs incurred in the months in question.
	
		
			  £ 
			   September 2010  October 2010 
			  Minister  Travel and subsistence  Hospitality  Travel and subsistence  Hospitality 
			 Secretary of State for Health 232.31 419.76 (1)21,960.50 39.08 
			 Minister of State for Health (Mr Simon Burns) 169.68 0 134.60 4.62 
			 Minister of State for Care Services (Paul Burstow) 986.07 135.75 960.61 4.85 
			 Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health (Anne Milton) 6,230.13 0 4,242.33 0 
			 Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Quality (Earl Howe) 4,506.21 223.7 995.15 0 
			 (1) Of this total, £10,633.15 represents the one-off "early surrender charge" made by the Government Car Service to the Department in response to the current Secretary of State's decision to give up his allocated Government car, and a further £7,027.38 represents the July monthly charge incurred during the notice period. In line with the new Ministerial Code, Ministers at the Department have given up their allocated cars and drivers and the existing contracts, which were subject to a 90-day contract termination period, ended on the 19 August 2010. However, due to retrospective billing invoices are still being received for this period as is also reflected in the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Anne Milton) and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State's (Earl Howe) travel and subsistence costs shown above.

Direct Payments

Louise Bagshawe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of adult social care users in receipt of direct payments in  (a) each region,  (b) each local authority area and  (c) total in each of the last three years.

Paul Burstow: Data on the number of adult social care users and carers in receipt of direct payments are collected and published by the NHS Information Centre for health and social care.
	The following table shows the number of service users and carers receiving direct payments at a council, regional and England level for the last three years. The 2009-10 data are provisional with final data expected to be published in early 2011.
	Information on carers receiving direct payments was not collected for the period 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008.
	
		
			  Table 1:  Estimated number of service users and carers receiving direct payments during the period April to March 
			2007-08( 1)  2008-09  2009-10( 2) 
			Service users  Service users  Carers  Service users  Carers 
			   Councils with social services responsibilities  Clients aged 18 and over receiving direct payments  Clients aged 18 and over receiving direct payments  All carers caring for a person aged 18 and over receiving direct payments  Clients aged 18 and over receiving direct payments  All carers caring for a person aged 18 and over receiving direct payments 
			   North East 3,985 5,280 345 6,390 1,045 
			 117 Darlington 115 155 10 290 20 
			 116 Durham 555 700 85 1,050 125 
			 106 Gateshead 205 275 15 265 20 
			 111 Hartlepool 375 475 25 450 45 
			 112 Middlesbrough 330 460 10 555 20 
			 107 Newcastle upon Tyne 350 465 70 765 275 
			 108 North Tyneside 265 295 20 290 10 
			 104 Northumberland 385 675 15 615 10 
			 113 Redcar and Cleveland 330 395 55 505 95 
			 109 South Tyneside 170 340 10 410 380 
			 114 Stockton-on-Tees 305 375 (3)- 415 (3)- 
			 110 Sunderland 590 670 25 775 40 
			
			   North West 8,415 10,490 4,280 15,490 (5)- 
			 324 Blackburn with Darwen 135 150 0 240 0 
			 325 Blackpool 205 240 10 365 35 
			 304 Bolton 345 505 220 685 300 
			 305 Bury 175 195 160 215 (5)- 
			 320 Cheshire 995 1,420 155 (4)- (4)- 
			 326 Cheshire East (4)- (4)- (4)- 1,085 80 
			 327 Cheshire West and Chester (4)- (4)- (4)- 1,600 45 
			 102 Cumbria 705 965 0 830 0 
			 321 Halton 220 220 575 300 650 
			 315 Knowsley 325 400 45 435 60 
			 323 Lancashire 1,080 1,340 660 1,815 405 
			 316 Liverpool 540 630 245 1,125 580 
			 306 Manchester 590 750 960 860 2,275 
			 307 Oldham 125 120 0 815 320 
			 308 Rochdale 180 270 45 340 70 
			 309 Salford 395 480 0 560 40 
			 317 Sefton 315 400 110 540 125 
			 318 St. Helens 285 475 10 400 185 
			 310 Stockport 275 310 90 490 135 
			 311 Tameside 180 215 35 395 40 
			 312 Trafford 310 385 445 470 755 
			 322 Warrington 205 215 10 945 10 
			 313 Wigan 375 475 445 635 50 
			 319 Wirral 460 330 55 335 165 
			
			   Yorkshire and the Humber 7,770 10,475 1,885 11,885 (5)- 
			 204 Barnsley 360 405 0 465 140 
			 209 Bradford 395 485 5 610 455 
			 210 Calderdale 195 280 (3)- 665 (3)- 
			 205 Doncaster 245 320 0 295 90 
			 214 East Riding of Yorkshire 265 295 390 435 1,105 
			 215 Kingston upon Hull 220 260 70 370 (5)- 
			 211 Kirklees 285 410 545 1,175 1,120 
			 212 Leeds 615 940 10 1,340 375 
			 216 North East Lincolnshire 200 260 185 300 330 
			 217 North Lincolnshire 130 195 25 380 30 
			 218 North Yorkshire 3,040 4,430 0 3,105 1,340 
			 206 Rotherham 360 460 265 625 30 
			 207 Sheffield 880 1,055 55 1,260 80 
			 213 Wakefield 365 515 10 540 15 
			 219 York 210 165 315 320 575 
			
			   East Midlands 4,975 7,560 1,590 8,620 3,270 
			 507 Derby 375 370 20 390 95 
			 506 Derbyshire 705 995 (3)- 1,360 60 
			 509 Leicester 280 425 370 545 445 
			 508 Leicestershire 800 1,250 40 1,420 275 
			 503 Lincolnshire 635 1,625 925 1,140 2,010 
			 504 Northamptonshire 770 1,035 65 1,465 155 
			 512 Nottingham 250 375 10 490 5 
			 511 Nottinghamshire 1,135 1,435 130 1,700 175 
			 510 Rutland 25 60 25 110 40 
			
			   West Midlands 7,785 8,755 8,550 11,495 9,175 
			 406 Birmingham 920 1,250 2,525 1,360 3,045 
			 407 Coventry 580 505 135 565 75 
			 408 Dudley 395 750 355 875 435 
			 415 Herefordshire 155 175 10 310 20 
			 409 Sandwell 385 425 505 435 755 
			 417 Shropshire 340 385 175 1,270 650 
			 410 Solihull 195 285 260 375 415 
			 413 Staffordshire 1,305 2,040 2,060 2,660 815 
			 414 Stoke-on-Trent 290 455 310 475 510 
			 418 Telford and the Wrekin 195 230 0 245 0 
			 411 Walsall 240 315 170 565 225 
			 404 Warwickshire 1,055 870 570 1,070 605 
			 412 Wolverhampton 260 370 355 500 450 
			 416 Worcestershire 1,465 695 1,125 790 1,180 
			
			   South West 6,450 8,695 2,110 9,415 3,500 
			 908 Bath and North East Somerset 185 200 (3)- 255 60 
			 810 Bournemouth 160 210 135 255 150 
			 909 Bristol 355 475 35 580 70 
			 902 Cornwall 1,280 1,385 (5)- 355 815 
			 912 Devon 1,195 1,280 0 1,380 0 
			 809 Dorset 410 850 10 1,030 10 
			 904 Gloucestershire 455 780 55 1,220 355 
			 906 Isles of Scilly (3)- (3)- 10 (3)- (3)- 
			 910 North Somerset 255 295 20 300 120 
			 913 Plymouth 230 535 385 745 740 
			 811 Poole 190 280 10 380 20 
			 905 Somerset 720 860 (3)- 1,075 5 
			 911 South Gloucestershire 280 440 125 550 145 
			 819 Swindon 155 200 35 230 115 
			 914 Torbay 295 440 85 415 235 
			 817 Wiltshire 290 460 400 640 665 
			
			   Eastern 7,380 8,750 3,550 (5)- (5)- 
			 610 Bedfordshire 460 745 360 (4)- (4)- 
			 625 Bedford (4)- (4)- (4)- 375 350 
			 626 Central Bedfordshire (4)- (4)- (4)- 555 310 
			 623 Cambridgeshire 935 645 1,185 1,110 2,170 
			 620 Essex 2,530 2,635 680 2,710 630 
			 606 Hertfordshire 835 1,355 830 1,825 830 
			 611 Luton 185 235 5 (5)- (5)- 
			 607 Norfolk 1,395 1,705 360 2,230 395 
			 624 Peterborough 170 270 20 325 50 
			 621 Southend-on-Sea 155 295 60 400 160 
			 609 Suffolk 640 760 20 930 40 
			 622 Thurrock 75 105 20 155 95 
			
			   London 9,110 12,350 3,620 (5)- (5)- 
			 716 Barking and Dagenham 285 395 40 575 90 
			 717 Barnet 535 635 260 710 210 
			 718 Bexley 250 400 (5)- 360 0 
			 719 Brent 235 515 5 960 100 
			 720 Bromley 305 390 (3)- 380 55 
			 702 Camden 295 320 100 405 160 
			 714 City of London 35 25 (3)- 65 50 
			 721 Croydon 310 390 20 415 15 
			 722 Ealing 360 460 125 775 160 
			 723 Enfield 335 435 15 515 20 
			 703 Greenwich 270 335 80 395 170 
			 704 Hackney 285 270 35 400 215 
			 705 Hammersmith and Fulham 235 255 125 310 275 
			 724 Haringey 260 300 715 400 1,270 
			 725 Harrow 245 620 305 690 530 
			 726 Havering 260 350 0 425 0 
			 727 Hillingdon 310 360 10 380 20 
			 728 Hounslow 335 375 85 440 105 
			 706 Islington 210 255 90 330 120 
			 707 Kensington and Chelsea 325 360 5 1,245 0 
			 729 Kingston upon Thames 205 265 130 305 170 
			 708 Lambeth 285 325 5 355 110 
			 709 Lewisham 180 455 20 485 220 
			 730 Merton 180 245 20 340 45 
			 731 Newham 370 470 5 (5)- (5)- 
			 732 Redbridge 280 350 55 580 40 
			 733 Richmond upon Thames 430 425 215 495 210 
			 710 Southwark 200 220 0 250 (3)- 
			 734 Sutton 215 425 230 465 370 
			 711 Tower Hamlets 235 260 185 340 380 
			 735 Waltham Forest 215 335 95 570 185 
			 712 Wandsworth 225 625 310 365 335 
			 713 Westminster 405 510 210 595 155 
			
			   South East 10,930 13,765 4,495 16,115 (5)- 
			 614 Bracknell Forest 205 330 0 325 195 
			 816 Brighton and Hove 220 320 140 400 175 
			 612 Buckinghamshire 700 710 (5)- 675 710 
			 815 East Sussex 725 1,040 1,710 1,225 1,715 
			 812 Hampshire 1,205 1,775 40 1,530 965 
			 803 Isle of Wight 255 260 35 325 55 
			 820 Kent 1,680 2,340 0 2,935 0 
			 821 Medway Towns 245 335 25 495 35 
			 613 Milton Keynes 360 430 55 1,200 (5)- 
			 608 Oxfordshire 855 925 350 880 755 
			 813 Portsmouth 170 195 35 235 40 
			 616 Reading 135 275 115 275 360 
			 617 Slough 200 220 140 280 260 
			 814 Southampton 335 425 0 575 0 
			 805 Surrey (5)- 1,525 965 1,865 1,295 
			 615 West Berkshire 225 265 100 235 155 
			 807 West Sussex 800 945 165 1,260 370 
			 618 Windsor and Maidenhead 1,515 1,200 15 1,115 20 
			 619 Wokingham 230 255 20 280 20 
			  England 66,790 86,110 30,425 (5)- (5)- 
			 (1) Information on carers receiving direct payments was not collected for the period 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008. (2) Data for 2009-10 are provisional. No estimates have been made for councils who failed to provide data so some regional totals and the national total are not provided. These will be available when final data are published for 2009-10. (3 )Data less than or equal to five. (4) Data not available. (5) Data not provided.  Source: RAP P2f, SD1, SD3 and PSSEX

Eating Disorders: Males

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department has made recommendations to mental health trusts about access to eating disorder services for male patients following the introduction of single sex accommodation; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Burstow: While this disorder predominantly affects females, approximately 10% of new cases currently being seen are young males. When male patients are admitted to eating disorders units, the facilities provided are compliant with the Department's guidance on single sex accommodation.

General Practitioners

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has plans to permit GP consortia to contract out any services relating to their commissioning functions to private companies.

Simon Burns: It is intended that general practitioner (GP) consortia will be statutory bodies with powers and responsibilities set out through primary and secondary legislation.
	Within commissioning budgets, it is envisaged that GP consortia will receive a maximum management allowance to reflect the management costs associated with commissioning. Consortia will be free to decide how to use this management allowance to carry out commissioning activities.
	Consortia are likely to carry out a number of commissioning activities themselves. In other cases, consortia may choose to act collectively, with a lead commissioner negotiating and monitoring contacts with large hospital trusts or with urgent care providers. They may also choose to buy in support from external organisations, including local authorities and private and voluntary sector bodies, which might include analytical activity to profile and stratify healthcare needs, support for procurement of services, and contract monitoring.
	We will be working with GPs and other healthcare professionals to look at how GP consortia will ensure any company brought in to support commissioning is both competent and suitable.

General Practitioners

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the likely effects of EU legislation on the implementation of his proposals for GP commissioning.

Anne Milton: The coalition Government will ensure that the reform proposals set out in the White Paper comply with European Union law, particularly in relation to competition and state aid.

General Practitioners

Julie Hilling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what processes he plans to put in place to enable patients to raise concerns regarding serious misconduct on the part of their GP following the abolition of primary care trusts; what the process will be for suspending GPs when such concerns are found to be of sufficient  (a) merit and  (b) importance to warrant suspension; and what arrangements will be put in place to provide care for the patient while investigations are completed.

Simon Burns: Currently a NHS complaint may be made to either the local practice or the commissioning body. The reformed NHS complaints arrangements were put in place in 2009, following a widespread public consultation, and it is envisaged that the underlying principles will remain as responsibility for commissioning services shifts to commissioning consortiums and the NHS Commissioning Board.
	The National Health Service (Performers Lists) Regulations 2004 provide for primary care trusts (PCTs) to manage suspension of general practitioners. Following the abolition of PCTs, it will be the responsibility of the NHS Commissioning Board to ensure that patients continue to have access to primary medical services. The detailed arrangements for the management of performers lists are currently being considered by Ministers and departmental officials.

General Practitioners

Julie Hilling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health by what processes his Department will ensure  (a) probity,  (b) quality of service and  (c) cost effectiveness when GPs are commissioning services which they also provide; which body will monitor such contracts; and how his Department plans to report to the House on the probity and value for money of such arrangements.

Paul Burstow: The NHS Commissioning Board will have the statutory responsibility for commissioning of general practitioner (GP) services.
	Where GP consortiums commission services, the NHS Commissioning Board will hold them to account for delivering outcomes and financial performance. In addition, as outlined in the consultation document 'Regulating Healthcare Providers', the Government will set out in legislation the duties of the NHS Board and Commissioners to act transparently and non-discriminatorily in all commissioning activities. This will be particularly important where GP consortiums are commissioning services that could potentially be provided by GP practices.
	Monitor will have powers to investigate and remedy complaints regarding commissioners' procurement decisions, or other anticompetitive conduct, acting as arbiter. The NHS Commissioning Board and Monitor will be required to report annually on the effectiveness of commissioning and economic regulation in the national health service respectively. These reports will also be laid before Parliament.

Health Education: Teenage Pregnancy

Amber Rudd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to educate young people about the health problems associated with teenage pregnancy.

Sarah Teather: I have been asked to reply.
	Evidence shows that children born to teenage mothers have a 60% higher risk of infant mortality; and 25% higher risk of low birth weight-which is a predictor for poorer health outcomes in later life. The key factors that contribute to these poor outcomes are:
	later engagement with antenatal services, including lower rates of attendance at antenatal education;
	poorer diet during pregnancy;
	higher rates of smoking during pregnancy; and
	lower rates of breastfeeding.
	Teenage mothers also experience poorer emotional health and well-being, with rates of post-natal depression three times higher than those for older mothers.
	All secondary schools are required to provide sex education. This provides the opportunity to raise awareness of these issues among all young people. But the extent to which schools cover the specific health risks associated with teenage pregnancy will vary, depending on teachers' assessment of their students' needs. SRE is a broad topic and curriculum time is limited. The fact that less than 1% of under-16s conceive each year means that schools may not see this issue as a priority for their students.
	Once a young woman has become pregnant and decides to have the baby, we would expect them to receive high quality antenatal care, which highlights the importance of a healthy lifestyle during pregnancy and the risk of poor outcomes if, for example, mothers continue to smoke during their pregnancy. In some areas, specially tailored antenatal services are available for young parents, in recognition that they have particular needs that may not be met through all-age services.
	After the birth, we would expect vulnerable young mothers to receive support through children's centres which will be focusing on the most disadvantaged families and through the Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) programme in the 56 local areas where it operates. FNP recognises that first-time young mothers are more likely to need additional practical and emotional support to deal with the challenges of parenthood.

Health Services: Terrorism

Dan Byles: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 8 November 2010,  Official Report, column 148W, on hospitals: infectious diseases, what estimate he has made of the minimum number of isolation beds required for the UK to respond to a potential biological attack utilising one or more highly infectious diseases.

Anne Milton: The minimum number of isolation beds required for the UK to respond to a potential biological attack, involving one or more highly infectious diseases, is based in part on the threat outlined in the National Risk Assessment (NRA). The NRA is a classified annual assessment of the risks (accidents, natural events and malicious attacks) facing the United Kingdom over a five-year period. As such, it is not appropriate to publish the details of estimates and available capacity for any given risk.

Hospitals: Waiting Lists

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were on NHS waiting lists in each of the last nine months; and what estimate he has made of the change in the number of patients on waiting lists over the next five years.

Simon Burns: The Department collects and publishes monthly national statistics data on national health service referral to start of treatment waiting times and the number of patients still waiting to start treatment.
	The number of patients who had not yet started their treatment at the end of each of the last nine months is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Referral to treatment (RTT): Incomplete pathways 
			   Number 
			  2009  
			 December 2,365,316 
			   
			  2010  
			 January 2,315,060 
			 February 2,337,098 
			 March 2,420,535 
			 April 2,513,586 
			 May 2,573,895 
			 June 2,569,098 
			 July 2,656,614 
			 August 2,654,816 
		
	
	What matters to patients is how long they wait before starting treatment. Latest RTT data for August 2010 show that the median referral to start of treatment waiting times were 8.3 weeks for patients admitted to hospital for treatment and 4.4 weeks for non-admitted patients (patients whose treatment did not involve an admission to hospital).
	Clinical priority is-and remains-the main determinant of when patients should be treated. Patients should not experience undue delay at any stage of their treatment and would not expect a return to long waiting times for operations.

Locums: Expenditure

Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what his estimate is of NHS spending on hospital locum doctors in each primary care trust area in  (a) 2007-08 and  (b) 2009-10;
	(2)  what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the EU Working Time Directive on levels of expenditure on hospital locum doctors; and if he will make a statement.

Anne Milton: This information is not collected centrally. Costs of employing locums can be incurred for a variety of reasons e.g. maternity cover and to cover illness or holiday breaks and it is impossible to identify the reason locum cover is provided.

NHS: Finance

Andrea Leadsom: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to ensure that hospital trusts bill commissioners appropriately for the health care services they provide in order to reduce differential pricing between age groups for the same consultations and procedures.

Simon Burns: Under Payment by Results, acute hospital trusts invoice commissioners a national tariff, which is a list of fixed prices. For the average acute hospital trust, tariff income represents around 50% of total income. The currency, or unit of payment, for the admitted patient care tariff is the healthcare resource group (HRG). HRGs are standard groupings of clinically similar treatments which use similar levels of health care resource, and where appropriate there are different prices for different age groups. The tariff is explained in 'A simple guide to Payment by Results', which has been placed in the Library and is available at:
	www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_119985

NHS: ICT

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost to  (a) his Department,  (b) NHS Connecting for Health and  (c) the National Programme for IT was of employing a team of information security architects in each year since the national programme for IT began.

Paul Burstow: Since it came into being in April 2005, NHS Connecting for Health has been responsible, within the Department, both for central expenditure necessary for ensuring delivery of systems and services under the national programme for information technology (NPfIT), and for maintaining the critical business systems previously provided to the national health service by the former NHS Information Authority.
	Relevant expenditure in the years for which information is readily available is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  £000 
			   2006-07  2007-08  2008-09  2009-10 
			 NPfIT 1,973 3,040 2,103 857 
			 Other NHS Connecting for Health 323 650 644 517 
			 Total 2,296 3,690 2,747 1,374 
			  Notes: 1. No dedicated team of information security architects has been employed. Figures relate to staff working in the role of information security architect in the period. 2. Figures include national insurance and pension contributions for permanent staff, and VAT, where applicable, for expenditure on contractor staff. 3. Figures exclude office and other employment costs, and expenses (e.g. travel and subsistence) payments. 4. Information prior to 2006-07 for NPfIT was held by the NHS Information Authority, which was abolished in March 2005.

NHS: Manpower

Nicola Blackwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the likely effect of the outcomes of the comprehensive spending review on the number of NHS  (a) managers,  (b) front-line staff,  (c) junior doctors and  (d) nurses.

Simon Burns: The precise number of national health service managers, front-line staff, junior doctors and nurses required over the next five years will not be known until the new organisations that will underpin the new system have been designed in more detail.
	The Department has consulted on how the new organisations should be designed and is analysing responses. Information on how the new organisations should be designed will be announced in due course.

NHS: Manpower

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists he expects to be working in the NHS in each of the next five years.

Simon Burns: The Department is currently undertaking a dental work-force review, which will include a sample survey of dentists' working patterns and career plans. Initial results should be available next spring.

NHS: Manpower

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many midwives he expects to be employed in the NHS in each of the next five years.

Anne Milton: It is the responsibility of strategic health authorities (SHAs) to commission their work force. SHAs base their decisions for work force planning on assessment of their local national health service organisations. The local NHS organisations are best placed to determine work force needs.
	The coalition Government value the contribution by the maternity work force and SHAs are considering the number of maternity staff needed to deliver safe maternity services which extend maternity choice.
	A national assessment will be made as part of the operating framework assurance process.

NHS: Manpower

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many general practitioners he expects to be employed in the NHS in each of the next five years.

Simon Burns: The White Paper makes it clear that accountability for decisions affecting work force supply and demand needs to sit in the right place, with employers having greater autonomy for planning and developing the work force alongside greater professional ownership of the quality of education and training.
	The number of general practitioners employed by the national health service in each of the next five years will depend on local plans.

NHS: Social Enterprises

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health under what conditions applications under the right to request scheme for NHS organisations are granted.

Paul Burstow: Applications under the right to request scheme are assessed by primary care trusts, and assured by strategic health authorities, against a national assurance framework. The assurance framework includes assessment of service development plans, financial planning and viability, and staff engagement.

Paediatrics

Ben Gummer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to support the development of patient education for children in paediatric wards.

Anne Milton: Patient education programmes are essential to securing optimal management of illnesses in children, particularly where a clear understanding of ongoing treatment is necessary for the prevention and mitigation of morbidity associated with the illness. The Department is currently supporting production of dedicated patient information leaflets as a key practical guide for parents and young people. The leaflets will be accessible through NHS Choices, and can be an option for downloading in paediatric wards as a part of the discharge procedure.

Palliative Care

Robin Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what mechanism he plans to put in place for  (a) commissioning,  (b) monitoring and  (c) auditing procedures to ensure GP consortia provide high-quality care and support for terminally ill patients.

Paul Burstow: The Government's reform proposals are about placing the power and responsibility to commission health services in the hands of national health service professionals who see and talk to patients every day, and know the most about their needs. As such, consortia will be better placed to efficiently commission high-quality services for all, including terminally ill patients.
	An independent NHS Commissioning Board will support consortia, helping them commission for continuous improvements in the quality of all NHS funded services, including those for the terminally ill. The Board will do this by, for example, producing Commissioning Guidance to which consortia should have regard. The Board will also promote choice and patient engagement, help to reduce health inequalities, hold general practitioner consortia to account, directly commission certain services including primary medical care, and allocate and account for NHS resources.
	Liberating the NHS was the start of an extensive consultation on how best to implement these changes. A number of supporting documents were published and in particular, "Liberating the NHS: Commissioning for Patients" invited views on a number of areas of the commissioning agenda. The consultation closed on 11 October, and further details are being worked up as a result of this exercise.

Palliative Care

Robin Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what changes in NHS end of life services he envisages as a result of his Department's commitment to 24/7 community nursing to support terminally-ill patients at home;
	(2)  whether the palliative care funding review will publish an interim report.

Paul Burstow: The Government have confirmed their commitment to improving quality and choice in palliative and end of life care in 'Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS'. This includes the commitment to move towards a national choice offer to support people's preferences about care at the end of their life.
	The Department's end of life care strategy provides our blueprint for improving end of life care for adults. The strategy encourages the development of services such as improved community services, rapid response services, access to services in the community 24 hours a day, seven days a week and specialist palliative care outreach services, which will allow more people to choose where they are cared for and die. How these services are provided and resourced is for local determination.
	The independent palliative care funding review will make recommendations for a funding system that will cover care provided by the national health service, a hospice or any appropriate provider, and which encourages more community-based care, so people can remain in their own homes, or in a care home.
	The review is to make its interim report to Ministers this autumn. Whether the report is published is a matter for the review team to determine.

Vaccination: Travel

Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his estimate is of NHS spending on  (a) travel vaccinations and  (b) travel vaccination clinics in each year since 2005.

Anne Milton: This information is not held centrally.
	Certain vaccinations are provided free of charge for travel in accordance with the National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) Regulations 2004. General practitioners receive remuneration for providing these services within the 'global sum' of the General Medical Services Contract. Some vaccines provided free of charge for travel are also used for occupational health purposes. Financial records held centrally do not separately identify NHS expenditure on travel vaccinations.
	Financial records held centrally do not separately identify NHS expenditure on travel vaccination clinics.

Incinerators: Health Hazards

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the answer of 30 November 2010,  Official Report, column 539W, on incinerators: health hazards, for what reasons it was decided that the Environment Agency should undertake a review of the health effects of combustion processes, including incineration, in view of the Health Protection Agency advice that studies of public health around modern, well-managed municipal waste incinerators are not recommended.

Richard Benyon: I have been asked to reply.
	The Environment Agency regulates incinerators and other large combustion processes. The review referred to will provide additional evidence to underpin the agency's role in regulating industrial emissions. It will consider all large combustion processes and any potential effects on health. Emissions from waste incineration are included in the review, although they make up only a small proportion of the total emissions from combustion processes. By contrast, the Health Protection Agency 2009 report addresses emissions from incineration only.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Crown Currency Exchange

Jake Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will commission an investigation into the solvency of Crown Currency Exchange while it was trading; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Davey: Following the administration of Currency Crown Exchange Ltd on 4 October, officials have been in contact with the administrators, and the failure of this company is under active consideration.

Higher Education Innovation Fund

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of funding allocations to be made by the higher education innovation fund in  (a) 2010-11,  (b) 2011-12,  (c) 2012-13,  (d) 2013-14 and  (e) 2014-15.

John Hayes: The Department is currently forecasting to spend £144.3 million on the higher education innovation fund in financial year 2010-11 (which is £150 million in academic year 2010-11). This grant scheme is administered by the Higher Education Funding Council for England on behalf of BIS.
	Future allocations for science and research between the years 2011-12 and 2014-15 will be covered by the spending review 2010 which has recently been announced at a departmental level. Decisions on the detailed allocations have not yet been taken.

Higher Education: Admissions

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if his Department will publish the criteria for the access agreements each university will be expected to sign with the Office for Fair Access.

John Hayes: holding answer 12 November 2010
	The Director of Fair Access is responsible for approving universities' and colleges' access agreements to safeguard access to higher education. All guidance for producing access agreements and their monitoring is published by the Office for Fair Access (OFFA) and this will continue to be the case. OFFA also publishes all approved access agreements as well as an annual monitoring report. In setting guidance, the Director of Fair Access must have regard to any guidance given to him by the Secretary of State and this is also published.

Higher Education: Females

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what proportion of first-year undergraduates were female in each of the last five academic years.

John Hayes: holding answer 15 November 2010
	The numbers and proportions of first-year undergraduate students who were female are shown in the following table for the academic years 2004/05 to 2008/09. Figures for the 2009/10 academic year will become available from the Higher Education Statistics Agency in January 2011.
	
		
			  UK higher education institutions including the Open University academic years 2004/05 to 2008/09-female first year undergraduates( 1) 
			  Academic year  Number who were female  Proportion who were female (percentage) 
			 2004/05 447,160 59.6 
			 2005/06 469,050 59.6 
			 2006/07 463,135 59.5 
			 2007/08 467,565 59.1 
			 2008/09 492,640 58.8 
			 (1) Covers full-time and part-time undergraduates of all domiciles.  Notes: 1. Figures are based on a HESA standard registration population and are rounded to the nearest five. 2. Percentages are given to one decimal place and are based on unrounded figures.  Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Student Record

Higher Education: Finance

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the level of funding likely to be allocated by the Higher Education Funding Council for England for widening participation in  (a) 2010-11,  (b) 2011-12,  (c) 2012-13,  (d) 2013-14 and  (e) 2014-15.

John Hayes: The funding council's allocation for widening participation in the academic year 2010/11 is £143.4 million. Allocations for future years will be determined by the council in response to the funding and priorities set by the Department, which will be announced for each year in due course.

Higher Education: Finance

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills when he plans to publish the grant letter to the Higher Education Funding Council for England for 2011-12.

John Hayes: We intend to publish the grant letter for 2011-12 by Christmas this year.

Public Expenditure

David Mowat: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much and what proportion of his Department's capital expenditure was allocated to  (a) London and  (b) the North West in each of the last five financial years.

Edward Davey: The data requested are shown in the following tables, based on the HM Treasury Country and Regional Analysis used for the Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses Command Paper (PESA 2010, CM 7890).
	
		
			  Percentage 
			   Regional allocation: 
			   London  North West 
			 2005-06 25 -1 
			 2006-07 21 9 
			 2007-08 21 9 
			 2008-09 20 9 
			 2009-10 21 11 
		
	
	
		
			  £ million 
			   Actual outturn 
			   London  North West 
			 2005-06 425.3 -8.8 
			 2006-07 373.9 170.4 
			 2007-08 412.8 172.9 
			 2008-09 458.2 214.1 
			 2009-10 612.7 314.2

SG First Minister

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills when he last met the First Minister of Scotland; and what matters were discussed at that meeting.

Edward Davey: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills last met with the First Minister of Scotland on 1 June. They discussed various energy related issues and banking reform.

Students: Fees and Charges

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment his Department has made of the likely effects on mature students of the implementation of his proposals for the level of tuition fees.

John Hayes: holding answer 12 November 2010
	The Government are committed to delivering a high-quality university sector that is more responsive to the needs of students and which is based on a progressive graduate contribution system. No one should be put off from raising their skills because of a lack of access to finance. In 2008/09, 92% (91.6%) 297,080 of UK-domiciled undergraduate entrants to part-time courses at UK higher education institutions, including the Open University, were mature (21+). Under our proposals for higher education funding, for the first time, eligible part-time students studying at at least one-third the intensity of a full-time course, will be entitled to a full loan for tuition, on the same basis as full-timers.